Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support Avon and Somerset Police to increase levels of community policing in communities in Yeovil constituency.

This year, £200 million has been made available to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by March 2026.

This major investment supports the commitment to make the country’s streets safer and reflects the scale of the challenges that many forces face and the Government’s determination to address them.

Based on their funding allocation of £4,574,856, Avon and Somerset Police’s projected growth over 2025 to 2026 in their neighbourhood teams will be 70 Police Officers. The local deployment of these officers remains an operational policing decision.

Additionally, the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG) is now being delivered across England and Wales to ensure consistent and high-quality neighbourhood policing. Every neighbourhood in Yeovil, now has named and contactable officers. As a result of the Guarantee, communities are benefitting from neighbourhood policing teams that are spending the majority of their time within their communities, delivering visible patrols and actively engaging with residents and businesses.