Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support police forces in tackling shoplifting in South Holland and the Deepings constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Shop theft continues to increase at an unacceptable level. We will not stand for this.
We are ensuring the right powers are in place. Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we are bringing in a new offence of assaulting a retail worker to protect the hardworking and dedicated staff that work in stores. We are also removing the legislation which makes shop theft of and below £200 a summary-only offence, sending a clear message that any level of shop theft is illegal and will be taken seriously.
Additionally, we are providing over £7 million over the next three years to support the police and retailers tackle retail crime, including continuing to fund a specialist policing team – in partnership with the retail sector - to better understand the tactics used by organised retail crime gangs and identify more offenders.
Tackling retail crime requires a partnership approach between policing representatives and business. The previous Minister for Crime and Policing launched the ‘Tackling Retail Crime Together Strategy’, which was jointly developed by the police and industry and aims to provide a collaborative and evidence-based approach to preventing retail crime.
Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of current measures to deter antisocial behaviour in car parks in Surrey Heath constituency.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour is a top priority for this Government, and a key part of our Safer Streets Mission.
Under the Government's Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are putting neighbourhood officers back into communities and restoring public confidence by bringing back community-led, visible policing. Surrey Police will receive £2,588,427 as part of the funding settlement for 2025-26.
In addition, the Home Office is providing £66.3 million funding in 2025-26 to all 43 forces in England and Wales to deliver high visibility patrols in the areas worst affected by knife crime, serious violence and anti-social behaviour. As part of the Hotspot Action Fund, Surrey Police will be in receipt of £1,000,000.
Following on from the Safer Streets Summer Initiative, the Home Secretary has announced a "Winter of Action" in which police forces across England and Wales will again partner with local businesses, councils and other agencies to tackle anti-social behaviour and other local issues that matter most to their communities.
In February, we introduced the new Respect Order in the Crime and Policing Bill, along with a range of other enhancements to the existing ASB powers. Respect Orders will be behavioural orders, issued by the civil courts. They will enable courts to ban adult offenders from engaging in harmful anti-social behaviours and can also compel adult perpetrators to take action to address the root cause of their behaviour. Breach of the order will be a criminal offence, allowing the police to immediately arrest anyone suspected of breach. Courts will have a wide range of sentencing options, including community orders, unlimited fines and, for the most severe cases, imprisonment.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the notice period given to organisers of the farming protest on 26 November 2025 of the cancellation of that protest.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The right to peaceful protest is a vital part of our democracy and will not be curtailed by this Government. However, these rights are not absolute and must be balanced with the rights and freedoms of others.
Section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 allows the police to impose conditions on a protest as appears necessary to prevent serious public disorder, serious damage to property or serious disruption to the life of the community. Any conditions that are considered necessary by a senior police officer can be placed on the protest including the location, route and date of the protest or prohibiting individuals entering any public place specified. There is no timeframe specified in the legislation for notifying the organisers of any conditions imposed.
The management of demonstrations are an operational matter for the police and forces work with organisers to plan protests and assess risks and manage safety. It is not for Government to direct the police in how they should manage protest activity.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the progress in rolling out additional neighbourhood police in (a) England (b) Greater Manchester.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
We have made £200 million available in 2025/26 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 3000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026.
The Government has committed to publishing neighbourhood policing numbers every six months, alongside the official police workforce statistics, with the next update due at the end of January 2026 setting out the numbers in neighbourhood policing roles as at the end of September 2025.
Based on their £11,556,938 allocation from the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, Greater Manchester are projected to grow by 176 FTE neighbourhood police officers in 2025/26.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of support available to police who attend traumatic callouts to attempted suicides.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has been clear that the health and wellbeing of our police is a priority and that those who have faced suicide-related incidents in the line of duty receive the support they need to recover and continue serving.
We continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) who have introduced a Trauma Tracker tool to help forces better understand exposure to traumatic incidents and ensure timely support for officers and staff. NPWS have also created a national suicide action plan which aims to educate and support the workforce, reduce stress and improve data recording. In addition, the Service has a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support Line to provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most.
It is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities. They are inspected biannually by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) whose role is to independently report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including inspecting how forces protect vulnerable people.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of suicide prevention training provided to police staff.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government has been clear that the health and wellbeing of our police is a priority and that those who have faced suicide-related incidents in the line of duty receive the support they need to recover and continue serving.
We continue to fund the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) who have introduced a Trauma Tracker tool to help forces better understand exposure to traumatic incidents and ensure timely support for officers and staff. NPWS have also created a national suicide action plan which aims to educate and support the workforce, reduce stress and improve data recording. In addition, the Service has a 24/7 Mental Health Crisis Support Line to provide urgent support for our police when they need it the most.
It is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities. They are inspected biannually by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) whose role is to independently report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including inspecting how forces protect vulnerable people.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 20 November to question 90783, if her Department will take steps to ensure that police forces prioritise British made vehicles.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Police vehicle/fleet framework is owned and competed by Bluelight Commercial and goes through Bluelight’s commercial governance.
The vehicle specification requirements are determined by Policing in line with operational Policing requirements and by Bluelight Commercial to meet Procurement Act and existing public sector procurement requirements.
Asked by: Clive Betts (Labour - Sheffield South East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of collecting data on the number of callouts police attend to attempted suicides or suicides in progress.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The College of Policing set the professional standards for police in England and Wales. The College’s core guidance includes the initial training for officers under the Policing Education Qualifications Framework which incorporates autism, learning disabilities, mental health and vulnerabilities. Through this, officers are taught to assess vulnerability and amend their approaches as required.
The College further promotes the need for frameworks to assess vulnerability, to aid in consistent identification, support decision making, and to trigger appropriate safeguarding action. Such principles and practices are set out in a number of college products, including the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice.
Policing is operationally independent, and it is a matter for the chief constables of each force to decide which additional training their officers should undertake and to set and enforce standards, giving them the flexibility to address their own local challenges, needs and priorities. They are inspected biannually by His Majesties Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) whose role is to independently report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces, including inspecting how forces protect vulnerable people.
Asked by: Jim McMahon (Labour (Co-op) - Oldham West, Chadderton and Royton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many reports of lost and missing (a) police warrant cards (b) police uniform items were made for each year from 2015 to date.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not hold data centrally on how many police warrant cards or police uniform items are lost.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to tackle illegal firearm possession.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government works closely with the police and the National Crime Agency (NCA) to ensure that we have the right laws, intelligence, detection and enforcement capabilities to tackle the threat posed by the unlawful possession and use of firearms. While incidents of gun crime, including where illegally held guns are involved, are relatively rare in this country, we recognise the significant and long-lasting impact of such incidents on victims and local communities when they do occur.
Our work with the police and the NCA includes recent and ongoing multi-agency action to target the importation and supply of imitation firearms that can be readily converted by criminals to fire live ammunition, which has seen significant numbers of these guns removed from circulation, helping to ensure the safety of our communities.
We have also included measures in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently before Parliament, to make it an offence to possess or supply templates for the 3D printing of firearms. This is part of a broader multi-agency response to the threat posed by the illegal possession of firearms manufactured unlawfully in part, or fully, using 3D printing technology.
There are significant penalties for those convicted of the unlawful possession of firearms, including the maximum penalty of life imprisonment for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life or injure property.