Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the number of frontline police officers in Lincolnshire.

The Government is clear that visible policing is essential to restoring public confidence in the police. As a result, our expectation is that officer numbers must be protected. We have put in place funding arrangements for 2025/26 to support the achievement of this aim.

For 2025/26, the Home Office is providing a total of up to £19.6 billion for police forces, which is an increase of up to £1.2 billion compared to the 2024/25 police funding settlement. This includes a total of up to £376.8 million specifically to support officer maintenance at the expected headcount levels in 2025/26, as well as an additional £200 million to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of the Parliament.

Lincolnshire Constabulary will receive up to £174.5 million in funding in 2025/26, an increase of up to £10.3 million when compared to the 2024/25 funding settlement, which represents a 6.2% cash increase and 3.8% real terms increase in funding. This includes a total allocation of £2,911,073 to support the maintenance of 1,186 police officers, as well as a total allocation of £1,663,470 to support neighbourhood policing roles.

The latest official statistics show that at 31 March 2025, Lincolnshire had 1,173 FTE (1,188 in headcount terms) police officers, 93.2% of which were frontline officers (1,028 FTE).

While we expect that police officers will be used in tackling crime and protecting the public, it is for Chief Constables and directly elected PCCs, and Mayors with PCC functions to make operational decisions based on their local knowledge and experience, including how best to allocate all the resources at their disposal.