Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many additional neighbourhood police officers are expected to be recruited under the new graduate recruitment scheme.

The Government is providing up to £7m to Police Now, a specialist recruitment provider for graduate entry into the police, to recruit in the region of 280 graduates into specialist neighbourhood and detective roles by March 2026. Around half of these recruits will specialise in neighbourhood policing.

Police Now has a strong track record of helping to bring the best and brightest talent into policing, delivering a diverse pool of high-quality officer recruits to neighbourhood and investigative teams, with a strong emphasis on rapid deployment and measurable community impact.

They play a key role in the delivery of new neighbourhood policing specialist officers to support the Government’s Safer Streets mission and help build a stronger connection between communities and the police.