Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support local police forces to tackle illegal traders on high streets across Suffolk Coastal.

Trading Standards services are provided by local authorities who operate independently from central government. It is for those local teams to work together with local partners, including operationally independent police forces, to decide how they can work together most effectively to tackle illegal trading.

The Government continues to prioritise boosting visible local policing. As part of this Government’s Safer Streets Mission, we are restoring neighbourhood policing. We are also ensuring that every community has named, contactable, officers dedicated to tackling the issues facing their communities, strengthening the connections between the police and the local communities they serve.

Against the ambitions set out in the Plan for Change, we expect the growth of neighbourhood policing personnel by up to 3,000 full-time equivalent by March 2026 and a further 1,750 FTE in 2026-27, bringing total neighbourhood policing growth to 4,750 FTE by March 2027. For Year two of the Neighbourhood Policing Grant in 2026-27, £363 million has been ringfenced to incentivise forces to grow their neighbourhood policing teams. Suffolk Constabulary will be expected to deliver their share of the national target. Their target figure will be confirmed in due course.

Total funding to police forces in England and Wales will be up to £18.4 billion in 2026-27, an increase of up to £796 million compared to the 2025-26 police funding settlement. Suffolk Police will receive up to £192.9 million in 2026-27, which is an increase of £8.6 million (4.7%) on the previous year.