Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase police recruitment.

For 2025/26, we are providing a total of up to £376.8 million specifically to support officer headcount levels as set out in the Police Funding Settlement. This includes £270.1m which is administered through a ringfenced grant. Police and Crime Commissioners will be able to access this ringfenced funding by demonstrating that they have met their officer headcount targets.

In addition, we have made £200 million available in FY 2025/26 to support the first steps towards delivering 13,000 more neighbourhood policing personnel across England and Wales by the end of this parliament, including up to 3,000 additional neighbourhood officers by the end of March 2026.