Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's White Paper entitled From local to national: a new model for policing, published on 26 January 2026, whether the funding announced for Opal is an yearly increase on past and current funding.

Opal is the National Policing Intelligence Unit for serious organised acquisitive crime. In 2023/4 and 2024/5, the Home Office provided £30,000 each year to help set up and run Pegasus which provides for a retail crime desk within Opal.

The Home Office is providing £5 million over the three financial years from 2025/6 to continue to fund Opal’s work with retailers and police forces to identify and dismantle organised crime groups and prolific offenders.