Asked by: Al Pinkerton (Liberal Democrat - Surrey Heath)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure neighbourhood policing teams have sufficient resources to carry out preventative work to deter knife carrying in Surrey.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The latest data published on 29 January [Police recorded crime and outcomes open data tables - GOV.UK] shows that there has been a 7% reduction in overall police recorded knife offences in Surrey in the last 5 years (from 499 offences in year ending March 2020 to 465 offences in year ending September 2025).
Neighbourhood policing plays a vital role in our mission to halve knife crime by helping to prevent violence to keep communities safe. The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee will deliver 13,000 additional policing personnel in neighbourhood roles across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament.
As at 31 March 2025, Surrey Police had 191 full-time equivalent (FTE) Neighbourhood Policing (NHP) officers, comprising 128 FTE police officers and 64 Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). Based on their £2,588,427 allocation from the Neighbourhood Policing Grant, Surrey Police are projected to grow by 25 FTE NHP police officers in 2025-26. As at 30 September 2025, Surrey Police have grown by 11 FTE Neighbourhood Policing officers out of a delivery plan target of 25 FTE.
Every neighbourhood has named, and contactable officers dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour locally, with forces increasing patrols in town centres and other hotspots based on local demand and intelligence.
This strengthened, visible neighbourhood presence supports earlier intervention, builds community confidence, and helps reduce the risk of young people becoming involved in violence.
The Serious Violence Duty also plays an important role in preventing knife crime in Surrey. It brings key local partners together, including policing, health, education and local authorities, to prevent and reduce serious violence in a joined up, evidence-led way. The Home Office has made £546,000 available to Surrey in 2025/26 to deliver the Duty, funding a wide range of interventions that support Surrey Police in responding to knife crime among under 18s, including support for Op Shield and Surrey’s Primary Intervention Programme for youth related serious violence.
Asked by: Peter Fortune (Conservative - Bromley and Biggin Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much their department spent on X and xAI since July 2024.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Communication Directorate has spent £0 on X and xAI since July 2024.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the effectiveness of enforcement of wildlife crimes as part of plans to a) review and b) strengthen penalties for cruelty against wildlife.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics).
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will consider i) increasing the number of wildlife crimes which are notifiable and ii) improving the consistency of the recording of wildlife crime by police forces.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics).
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West and Islwyn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of existing penalties on preventing cruelty against wildlife.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
There are currently no plans to make wildlife crimes notifiable (which would result in them being included in the national crime statistics).
Any non-notifiable wildlife crime reported to the police can still be investigated where appropriate, as Chief Constables have operational independence to tackle the crimes that matter most to their communities.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will integrate Special Grant funding into the core settlement provided to Bedfordshire Police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026-27 Final Police Funding Settlement confirmed £49.6m for Special Grant in the coming financial year. Funding for Bedfordshire Police will be up to £175.8m, an increase of up to £7.5m from 2025-26. Special Grant awards will be confirmed in due course.
The government has set out an ambitious programme of police reform in the Police Reform White Paper, and has committed to reform of the police funding model.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she will provide an update on the status of Special Grant funding to Bedfordshire Police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026-27 Final Police Funding Settlement confirmed £49.6m for Special Grant in the coming financial year. Funding for Bedfordshire Police will be up to £175.8m, an increase of up to £7.5m from 2025-26. Special Grant awards will be confirmed in due course.
The government has set out an ambitious programme of police reform in the Police Reform White Paper, and has committed to reform of the police funding model.
Asked by: Gareth Snell (Labour (Co-op) - Stoke-on-Trent Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent Central of 24 November 2025 with case reference GS06761.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office responded to the hon. Member on 3 December 2025. This reply has been resent on 3 February 2026.
Asked by: Sarah Owen (Labour - Luton North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that Bedfordshire Police have sufficient resource to hit officer number targets.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this.
For 2025/26, £376.8 million has been made available to forces to support achievement of officer number targets. This funding was distributed as follows:
For 2025/26, Bedfordshire Police have been allocated a total of up to £3,155,659 through the officer maintenance ringfenced grant, and £1,580,578 through the top-up grant, to maintain a total headcount of 1,466 officers.
Published statistics show the force achieved this target at the mid-year point. As at 30 September 2025, Bedfordshire Police had a total of 1,467 police officers (headcount).
For 2025/26, a total of up to £1,803,234 was also made available to Bedfordshire Police through the neighbourhood policing grant to grow by 38 FTE Neighbourhood Policing officers (30 FTE police officers and 8 FTE PCSOs).
As at 30 September, Bedfordshire Police had grown their neighbourhood policing function by 13 FTE.
Asked by: Neil Duncan-Jordan (Labour - Poole)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the definition of coercive and controlling behaviour within the Serious Crime Act 2015 to include extremist groups, cults and gangs.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
Controlling or coercive behaviour (CCB) is an insidious form of domestic abuse. The CCB legislative framework was introduced in 2015 and was explicitly designed to address patterns of behaviour within relationships where the perpetrator and victim are “personally connected”, as outlined in Section 2 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021. Expanding CCB beyond this context would risk undermining that clarity, creating uncertainty for police to identify, investigate and prosecute this offence.
We do not intend to expand the CCB offence beyond its current scope at this time.