Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of serving officers from Cambridgeshire constabulary's rural crime action team are have been included within the number of new officers for Cambridgeshire under the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.

Our approach to delivery in 2025/25, which will be year 1 of a 4-year programme, is designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a manner that is flexible, and can be adapted to the local context and the varied crime demands a force faces. The precise workforce mix proposed in 2025/26 was therefore a local decision.

All forces, including Cambridgeshire Constabulary, have agreed neighbourhood policing delivery plans. Cambridgeshire Constabulary has been allocated £2,065,069 and will deliver an increase of 30 police officers, 7 PCSOs and 13 special constables by 31 March 2026. Force-level recruitment projections are also published here: Neighbourhood policing grant allocations and projections: 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK.

Additionally, this financial year we are providing Home Office funding since 2023 for the National Rural Crime Unit. The unit aims to help police forces tackle rural crime priorities through the provision of specialist operational support, as well as through sharing best practice and encouraging regional and national approaches to tackling rural crime.