Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if she will list engagements that the Race Equality Engagement Group has had with (a) stakeholders and (b) community organisations since March 2025; and the output from these engagements.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Race Equality Engagement Group (REEG) held its first meeting in June 2025.
On 25 September 2025 the REEG held its first thematic roundtable covering tackling the barriers to accessing finance and investment for ethnic minority entrepreneurs, and the Police Race Action Plan.
On 9 December 2025 the REEG held its second thematic roundtable and community engagement session, focusing on racial inequalities in maternal and neonatal health and cardiovascular disease.
The Group has met with stakeholders with lived experience, and from key government departments, civil society, community groups and institutions.
In line with the REEG’s Terms of Reference, these meetings are supporting efforts to strengthen the Government’s links with ethnic minority communities and enable constructive dialogue on the Government’s plans to tackle race inequalities.
Asked by: Kirsty Blackman (Scottish National Party - Aberdeen North)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the Race Equality Engagement Group has published any (a) reports and (b) other documents since March 2025.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Race Equality Engagement Group (REEG) held its first meeting in June 2025.
On 25 September 2025 the REEG held its first thematic roundtable covering tackling the barriers to accessing finance and investment for ethnic minority entrepreneurs, and the Police Race Action Plan.
On 9 December 2025 the REEG held its second thematic roundtable and community engagement session, focusing on racial inequalities in maternal and neonatal health and cardiovascular disease.
The Group has met with stakeholders with lived experience, and from key government departments, civil society, community groups and institutions.
In line with the REEG’s Terms of Reference, these meetings are supporting efforts to strengthen the Government’s links with ethnic minority communities and enable constructive dialogue on the Government’s plans to tackle race inequalities.
Asked by: Alex Easton (Independent - North Down)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether he plans to make additional funding available to the Police Service of Northern Ireland to meet the costs arising from the 2023 data breach.
Answered by Hilary Benn - Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
It is for the Northern Ireland Executive to set a budget for Departments, and for the Minister for Justice to allocate funding to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The Government is providing the Executive with a record settlement over the Spending Review period, averaging £19.3bn per year. This is the largest in the history of devolution.
On 17 December 2025, the Northern Ireland Executive committed to providing £119m to the Department of Justice to fund the costs of the data breach.
Concerns about the implications of costs associated with the data breach should be raised via the existing mechanisms in the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance.
Asked by: Jo Platt (Labour (Co-op) - Leigh and Atherton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the police funding formula before the next comprehensive spending review.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Secretary considers the distribution of funding each year to ensure decisions promote police efficiency, effectiveness and support the Government’s wider programme of reform.
Further details regarding police funding for 2026-27 will be set out in the upcoming Final Police Funding Settlement.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the answer of 9 December 2025, to Question HL12288, on Council tax, what is the increase in police spending power on average across the Phase 2 settlement excluding the revenue raised from increasing council tax.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The provisional police funding settlement (18 December) published that total funding to Territorial Police Forces will be up to £18.3 billion, an increase of up to £746 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.2% cash increase and a 2.0% real terms increase for the policing system. Total grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners will increase by up to £382 million next year, a 3.3% cash increase.
Council tax levels are a local decision, and elected Police and Crime Commissioners will rightly want to consider the balance between increasing resources for policing local communities and the overall council tax burden.
Police funding is agreed on an annual basis and allocations beyond 2026–27 will be determined as part of future police funding settlements.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the answer of 16 July 2025 to Question 66201 on Council Tax, whether the non-police element of the (a) GLA precept and (b) combined authority mayoral precepts are included in the £2,000 assessments.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The updated distribution proposed in the Fair Funding Review 2.0 includes a resource adjustment to take account of a local authority's ability to raise income locally when allocating funding as part of the Local Government Finance Settlement.
As set out in the response to Question UIN 66201, the notional council tax used in this adjustment is set at the average Band D level of Council Tax in England. This includes the social care precept and the fire precept but does not include police or parish precepts. Mayoral precepts are not included, except for the fire element.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data his Department holds on the estimated level of council tax receipts in England from 2026-27 onwards, including police, combined authority, GLA and parish precepts.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Department does not publish specific data on estimated levels of council tax receipts in England for Police, combined authorities, Greater London Authority and parish councils.
As part of the provisional settlement the Government has made estimates of changes to Core Spending power for 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29. This includes estimates of the council tax requirements councils will set for those years. These estimates are set out here. These estimates exclude parish precepts, police and crime commissioner precepts, and the High Value Council Tax Surcharge being introduced from 2028.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the figures on local authority, fire and police core spending power include or exclude the grant funding to compensate local public bodies for the increase in National Insurance contributions for employees.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As set out at the 2026/27 provisional local government finance settlement, the £502 million Employer National Insurance Contributions Grant from 2025/26 will be consolidated into the Revenue Support Grant. As outlined in the explanatory note on Mayoral Strategic Authority funding existing Strategic Authorities will receive the Mayoral Capacity Fund in 2026/27, which takes account of their allocation from Employer National Insurance Contributions Grant from 2025/26.
Police authorities received funding for the increase in employee National Insurance Contributions separately.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of aggregate council tax receipts in England in (a) 2025-26, (b) 2026-27, (c) 2027-28 and (d) 2028-29.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the provisional settlement the Government has made estimates of changes to Core Spending power between 2026 and 2029. This includes estimates of the council tax requirements councils will set for those years. These estimates are set out here - Core Spending Power table: provisional local government finance settlement 2026 to 2029 - GOV.UK. These estimates exclude parish precepts, police and crime commissioner precepts, as well as the High Value Council Tax Surcharge being introduced from 2028.
Asked by: Chris Coghlan (Liberal Democrat - Dorking and Horley)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the funding provided to the British Transport Police for protecting (a) people and (b) property at train stations.
Answered by Keir Mather - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)
The British Transport Police (BTP) play a vital role in keeping passengers and staff safe across the rail network. Their budget is set by the British Transport Police Authority (BTPA) following proposals from the Force and engagement with industry and railway operators.
As with all police forces, the Chief Constable of the British Transport Police (BTP) has operational independence over the deployment of officers and other resources to meet their objectives as agreed with the BTPA. The protection of people and reducing crime on the railways are key to these objectives, as set out in the BTP’s 2022 – 2027 Strategic Policing plan. BTPA and DfT regularly discuss with BTP their delivery and performance against these objectives.
BTP’s budget has recently been set for the next three financial years. In 2026/27, it will increase by 6.2%, with provisional agreement for budget increases of 5.6% and 2.5% over the subsequent two years – an increase of over £65m from £415m in 2025/26 to £481.5m in 2028/29, allowing for the creation of over 180 new officer roles for network policing.