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 2026–27 police funding settlement in enabling Northumbria Police to bring officer numbers remain back to pre-2010 levels; and how many police forces in England and Wales will have officer numbers above pre-2010 levels at the end of 2026-27.

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. That is why forces should have the right resources to tackle crime and keep communities safe.

Through the police funding settlement, a total of £442.4 million will be available to Northumbria Police in 2026/27, an increase of £20.2 million compared to 2025/26. This represents a 4.8% cash increase.

We are focused on what police officers are doing, rather than achieving arbitrary officer headcount targets and are putting officers where people want to see them.

We have scrapped arbitrary officer headcounts, which has led to forces hiring officers and, in some cases, putting them in back-office roles. Some 12,000 warranted police officers are now working in support roles across England and Wales. We are instead focussed on putting 13,000 additional policing personnel in neighbourhood roles across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. By February 2026, we had delivered more than 3,100 additional police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood roles. (Growth under the Neighbourhood Policing Programme, as at 28 February 2026: management information - GOV.UK)

We are also expanding police use of AI and automation technologies. In the Police Reform White Paper we announced £115m over the next three years, led by the creation of “Police AI”, a new national centre for AI in policing focused on supporting police forces rapidly but responsibly use AI to improve their efficiency and effectiveness, resulting in better public safety outcomes for local communities. Taken together this investment package is expected to free up at least 3,000 FTE (or 6 million officer hours) a year by 2028/29.