Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) new and (b) redeployed officers will be required in order to provide a named police officer for every town.

The Government is committed to providing strong neighbourhood policing to everyone in England and Wales, no matter where they live.

As the Prime Minister announced on 10 April, by July, every community will have named and contactable officers dedicated to addressing the issues facing their communities as part of the government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee. We have worked closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other sector leaders to develop this Guarantee and ensure that it is deliverable.

As of March 2024, there were 17,023 neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs. The Guarantee will provide 13,000 additional neighbourhood police by 2029.