Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of neighbourhood policing levels in Portsmouth.

Decisions about how neighbourhood policing is delivered, including the size, composition and prioritisation of neighbourhood policing teams are for operationally independent Chief Constables. They are best placed to use their local knowledge and experience to serve local communities. Democratically elected PCCs, or mayors with these functions are responsible for holding Chief Constables to account for their running of the force.

We are ensuring that policing has the resources it needs. As a result of the Police Uplift there are now almost 150,000 officers (headcount) in police forces across England and Wales - the highest number on record. As at 31 March 2023, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary recruited 582 additional officers against a total three-year allocation of 518 officers.

As a result of our investment in policing, the number of police officers within local policing roles in England and Wales is the highest since comparable data began. As at 31 March 2023, in Hampshire and Isle of Wight there were 1,596 full time equivalent police officers employed in local policing roles, a 5.4% increase on the previous year (1,514 FTE in March 2022).