Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) legal and (b) operational feasibility of local councils (i) establishing or (ii) co-funding neighbourhood policing constabularies under the Police Act 1996 in partnership with Police and Crime Commissioners.

The Government remains firmly committed to ensuring strong neighbourhood policing across England and Wales. The 43 territorial police forces across England and Wales are responsible for neighbourhoods policing in their areas.

To reinforce neighbourhood policing teams, we are providing £200 million to police forces in the 2025/26 financial year to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales. Essex Police has been allocated £4,495,599 from the £200 million fund for 2025/26. Based on their funding allocation, the projected growth for neighbourhood officers in Essex Police over 2025/26 will be 74 (FTE) police officers.

The Government has also announced that by July, every community will have named, contactable officers dedicated to addressing local issues as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.