Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the potential impact of police station front counter closures on community policing in rural areas.

Decisions regarding the management of local police resourcing and estates, including police stations, is a matter for Chief Constables and directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (or equivalents). They are best placed to make these decisions based on their knowledge of local need and their experience, in line with their existing budgets. The Home Office does not collect data on the number or location of police stations, or the impact of their closure.

Police stations are just one of the ways in which people can access their local police, including reporting online and by phone 24/7 via 999 for emergencies and 101 for non-emergency calls.

A key part of the Government’s Safer Streets Mission is focused on restoring neighbourhood policing, and rebuilding trust and confidence in policing, The commitments set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee are now making a considerable difference to the service communities receive from their neighbourhood policing teams. We have also provided £200 million in FY 2025/26 to support the first steps of delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of the Parliament. This increase in neighbourhood policing, alongside the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, will strengthen the connections between the police and the communities they serve.