Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much additional funding her Department plans to provide to Avon and Somerset Police as part of the Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy 2025-2028.

This financial year the Home Office has provided the first Government funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit (£365,000) as well as continuing funding for the National Wildlife Crime Unit (£450,000). The National Rural Crime Unit assists all police forces, including Avon and Somerset, in tackling rural crime.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) Rural and Wildlife Crime Strategy 2025-2028 is a vital step in our mission to deliver safer streets everywhere and comes as we give the police new powers to take on the organised criminal gangs targeting the agricultural sector.

As part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, the Government has made £200 million available in FY 25/26 to support the first steps of delivering more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales. Of this, Avon and Somerset Police have been allocated £4,574,856 for an increase of 70 police officers.