Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of police funding increases being delivered primarily through rises in council tax precepts on local taxpayers.

The government believes in empowering local decision-makers, including by ensuring they have the flexibility to generate their own income through council tax, while protecting residents from excessive increases.

Police precept levels for 2026/27 onwards remains subject to final decisions on precept which will be set out in the annual police funding settlement in the usual way. It will then be for individual police and crime commissioners to decide whether to use their full flexibility, balancing the extra spending with the tax burden on residents.