Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2025 to Question 59321 on Police: Finance, what the grant funding to police is in cash terms in each financial year between 2024-25 and 2028-29.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The police settlement is an annual process and allocations will be confirmed for 2026-27 later this year.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what formal definition her Department uses for community policing roles.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Frontline policing is comprised of visible operational frontline roles and non-visible frontline roles, each of which contains specific functions. Further information on the functions included under visible operational frontline and non-visible frontline, including the definitions of each function can be found in Table F4 of the data tables accompanying the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ publication here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d965ab594182179fe0877f/police-workforce-mar24-tables-240724.ods.
In 2015 the Home Office adopted the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Police Objective Analysis (POA) framework. The POA framework does not include a specific function for ‘community policing’ but does include the function ‘Neighbourhood Policing’.
Since 2015, published statistics on the neighbourhood policing workforce have come with a caveat from the Home Office that the data was not considered to be robust due to the conflation of figures relating to neighbourhood officers and local and emergency response teams.
As a result of these concerns, in 2025 the Home Office carried out a data validation exercise, asking all police forces to verify the previously published data for police employees in the 1a Neighbourhood Policing category. This exercise showed that data reported under the previous government were inaccurate and did not reflect the true number of neighbourhood officers.
Subsequently the Home Office revised previously published neighbourhood policing data here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/provisional-revision-to-neighbourhood-policing-data-at-31-march-2024. The Home Office has issued guidance to police forces on the categorisation of 1a Neighbourhood Policing to ensure that those working in neighbourhood policing are being recorded correctly, particularly on the distinction between 1b Incident Response Management and 1a Neighbourhood Policing, as well as classroom-based student officers.
Asked by: Nick Timothy (Conservative - West Suffolk)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what formal definition her Department uses for frontline policing roles.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
Frontline policing is comprised of visible operational frontline roles and non-visible frontline roles, each of which contains specific functions. Further information on the functions included under visible operational frontline and non-visible frontline, including the definitions of each function can be found in Table F4 of the data tables accompanying the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ publication here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67d965ab594182179fe0877f/police-workforce-mar24-tables-240724.ods.
In 2015 the Home Office adopted the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy’s (CIPFA) Police Objective Analysis (POA) framework. The POA framework does not include a specific function for ‘community policing’ but does include the function ‘Neighbourhood Policing’.
Since 2015, published statistics on the neighbourhood policing workforce have come with a caveat from the Home Office that the data was not considered to be robust due to the conflation of figures relating to neighbourhood officers and local and emergency response teams.
As a result of these concerns, in 2025 the Home Office carried out a data validation exercise, asking all police forces to verify the previously published data for police employees in the 1a Neighbourhood Policing category. This exercise showed that data reported under the previous government were inaccurate and did not reflect the true number of neighbourhood officers.
Subsequently the Home Office revised previously published neighbourhood policing data here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/provisional-revision-to-neighbourhood-policing-data-at-31-march-2024. The Home Office has issued guidance to police forces on the categorisation of 1a Neighbourhood Policing to ensure that those working in neighbourhood policing are being recorded correctly, particularly on the distinction between 1b Incident Response Management and 1a Neighbourhood Policing, as well as classroom-based student officers.
Asked by: Helen Maguire (Liberal Democrat - Epsom and Ewell)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether increases to police spending will be funded through (a) general taxation and (b) council tax.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
As set out in the Spending Review 2025 document, published 11 June 2025, the Phase 2 settlement provides an average 1.7% real terms increase per year in police spending power. Over the SR period, police spending power is projected to increase by an average 2.3% per year in real terms.
Police core spending power reflects a mix of central government funding and local taxation through the police precept. This 2.3% projection is therefore premised on the police being funded through increases to both. The government will set out spending plans for police forces in England and Wales, including the final precept level and core government funding, at the annual police funding settlement in the usual way.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the merits of funding fire and rescue services in the same way as police and ambulance services in order to meet changes in employers' National Insurance.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
As part of the 2025/26 Local Government Finance Settlement, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) announced an additional £515 million to help councils manage the impact of employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) changes from the Autumn Budget.
Payments to councils are un-ringfenced to give Local Authorities discretion over the use of funds in their area. This funding can be used to support councils to mitigate the additional costs of employer NICs within direct, commissioned, and externally provided local services, for example.
Asked by: Wendy Morton (Conservative - Aldridge-Brownhills)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the level of funding for the police over the period of the Spending Review 2025 on levels of (a) shoplifting, (b) phone theft and (c) violence against women.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is committed to supporting the police to tackle crime. The Chancellor has announced a real terms increase in police spending power over the next three years.That included £200 million to kickstart recruitment of neighbourhood officers and PCSOs across the country. As is usual, more detail on force funding allocations for future years will be set out at the police settlement later.
Asked by: Freddie van Mierlo (Liberal Democrat - Henley and Thame)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of overall funding allocated to Thames Valley Police; and whether she plans to review regional difference in police (a) pay and (b) allowances as part of future funding settlements.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement. Thames Valley Police will receive up to £627.4 million, an increase of up to £40.8 million from 2024-25.
The Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) and Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) make recommendations to the Government on the appropriate level of pay and allowances for police officers.
The pay review bodies gather and invite parties to submit evidence to inform their decisions. This includes both written and oral evidence from the Government, police employers and police staff associations. They weigh the evidence, consider independent research, and formulate detailed recommendations.
We are committed to the Pay Review Body process and the Government appreciates and values the independent, expert advice and contribution that the pay review bodies make.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase funding for local policing forces.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.2 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement.
Total funding to police forces will be up to £17.6 billion, an increase of up to £1.2 billion compared to the 2024-25 police funding settlement. This equates to a 7.1% cash increase, and 4.6% real terms increase in funding.
The Government is committed to ensuring police forces are supported to effectively tackle crime. That is why we have committed £200 million to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs in communities across England and Wales.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
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 9 June 2025 to Question 55289 on Police: Employment Contributions, whether the methodology used to calculate the National Insurance mitigation for police officers is the same as that used to calculate the funding for firefighters.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Government funding for fire and rescue services is provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) through the Local Government Finance Settlement (LGFS) in the form of revenue support grant (RSG) and retained business rates.
In recognition of the decision to increase employer National Insurance Contributions, the Government will provide £515 million to English local councils, including mayoral combined authorities and fire and rescue authorities, allocated based on an assessment of each council’s share of relevant net service expenditure.
The 2025/26 LGFS was published on 3 February and sets out funding allocations for all local authorities including fire and rescue. Standalone Fire and Rescue Authorities will see an increase in core spending power of £69.1m in 2025/26. Including the National Insurance Contribution Grant, this is an increase of 3.6 per cent in cash terms compared to 2024/25.
Asked by: Luke Taylor (Liberal Democrat - Sutton and Cheam)
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.
Answered by Darren Jones - Chief Secretary to the Treasury
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.