Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that police forces receive adequate resources to tackle crime effectively.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an increase of up to £1.3 billion compared with the 2025–26 settlement, representing a 6.7% cash increase and a 4.4% real terms increase.
Police forces will have up to £18.4 billion in 2026-27. This is an increase in funding to forces by up to £796 million, equating to a 4.5% cash increase and 2.3% real terms increase.
The Chancellor set out at the Spending Review that there will be a real terms increase in funding over the next three years. Despite the importance of living within the fiscal constraints, this government is prioritising funding for policing.
£200 million was made available in 2025-26 to support the delivery of 3,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel this year. We are on track to deliver that 3,000 by the end of March - and remain determined to reach 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of the Parliament.
The 2026-27 settlement ringfences £363 million of total funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams, which includes an additional £50 million following feedback from the provisional settlement.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
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 funding settlement for Essex Police.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The 2026–27 final police funding settlement provides up to £21.0 billion for the policing system in England and Wales.
Total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. This equates to a 4.5% cash increase and a 2.3% real terms increase in funding.
Essex Police will receive up to £455.2 million in 2026-27. This is an increase of up to £21.1 million, equating to a 4.9% cash increase.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to help tackle the crime of fly tipping in Epping Forest.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Local councils are responsible for tackling fly-tipping in their area and have a range of enforcement powers to help them do so. These include fixed penalty notices of up to £1000 and prosecution action. The Government is taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to effectively exercise their existing powers. We are also reviewing council powers to seize and crush vehicles of fly-tippers, to identify how we could better help them use this tool.
Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders to share good practice on preventing fly-tipping.
In our manifesto we committed to forcing fly-tippers to clean up the mess that they have created. We will provide further details on this commitment in due course.
The Environment Agency regulates large scale fly-tips that meet the criteria of being over 20 tonnes, consist of hazardous material, or are linked to organised crime. Within the Epping Forest constituency, there are not currently any reports of large-scale fly-tips that meet these criteria. It is worth noting that there are two illegal waste sites where active clearing is currently taking place under the guidance of the Environment Agency.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve access to routine tissue freezing for brain cancer patients in a) Epping Forest and b) England for even access to advanced treatments, diagnostics and research.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
Fresh-freezing, also referred to as snap-freezing, is a standard technique used by pathology networks to preserve tissue architecture without chemical fixatives, allowing for subsequent molecular or histological analysis, typically supporting research or advanced diagnostic applications.
No recent assessment has been made on the adequacy, extent, or capacity of procedures for freezing brain cancer and general cancer tissue samples across National Health Service trusts in Epping Forest or England.
It is important that everyone, regardless of where they live, can access the latest innovations in the health and care system through research. The Department invests over £1.6 billion each year in research through the National Institute of Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s investments for capital equipment, technology, and modular buildings support NHS trusts across England to deliver high-quality research to improve the health of the population. This investment includes cutting edge research equipment and fixed assets such as ultra-low and cryogenic freezers, to strengthen research capacity and improve access to samples for research.
The Department is exploring options to expand brain tissue freezing capacity.
Asked by: Neil Hudson (Conservative - Epping Forest)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the potential merits of providing further funding for its planned National Biosecurity Centre to meet the required level of funding specified in the National Audit Office's Improving the UK’s science capability for managing animal diseases Report in 2022.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Defra received the funding it requested in the current Spending Review to 2029-30 for the next stage of the National Biosecurity Centre, Weybridge Programme. Programme delivery is on track and in line with Government Project Delivery Functional Standards. Further funding in future Spending Reviews will be requested to secure operational delivery of the new facility by 2034.