Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Neighbourhood Policing

Monday 7 July 2025 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Special constables experienced a significant decrease in numbers between 2023 and 2024, with Sussex police losing one in four in Chichester.
  • Blackpool police launched the safer streets summer initiative, ensuring every community in Blackpool has a named police officer.
  • The Home Secretary emphasized the close cooperation with the Community Security Trust to address the increase in antisemitism and antisemitic hate crimes.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Jess Brown-Fuller Lib Dem Chichester
Policing & Resources
Context

Jess Brown-Fuller notes the significant drop in the number of special constables between 2023 and 2024, particularly in her constituency. She highlights that Sussex police has lost one in four specials during this period.

Question

Special constables play a vital role in visible community policing, but the number of specials dropped by over 700 between 2023 and 2024, and we lost one in four in the same period in my constituency of Chichester, which is represented by Sussex police. Will the Home Secretary consider practical incentives such as council tax relief or free local travel, like those that the Met police currently have, to support recruitment and retention of those specials?

Answer from The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Yvette Cooper)

I welcome the hon. Member’s point about specials. They play an extremely important role and the drop in the number of specials across the country in the years before the ones to which she refers was even steeper. I am pleased that Sussex police are getting not just 43 additional neighbourhood police officers, but a further 21 specials into neighbourhood teams this year. We will continue to look at what more we can do to increase support for specials and get more on the beat.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Home Secretary did not specifically address incentives such as council tax relief or free local travel.

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Q2 Chris Webb Lab Blackpool South
Policing & Resources Crime & Law Enforcement
Context

Chris Webb discusses the launch of the safer streets summer initiative in Blackpool, which guarantees a named police officer or PCSO for every community. He asks about visible policing in town centres.

Question

Last week I joined Blackpool police and our police and crime commissioner, Clive Grunshaw, under the iconic Blackpool tower to launch the safer streets summer initiative in Blackpool. This has coincided with delivering the guarantee that every community in Blackpool will now have a named police officer and PCSO, which has been welcomed across the community. Can the Home Secretary confirm that my constituents will soon see more visible policing and regular foot patrols in our town centre, and, crucially, start to feel safer and more confident on the streets of Blackpool?

Answer from The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Yvette Cooper)

My hon. Friend is right, and he and I have talked to shop managers in his constituency about the importance of tackling town centre crime. It is why Lancashire police are getting an additional 83 police officers and PCSOs into neighbourhood teams this year. I strongly welcome the work they are doing as part of the Government’s safer streets summer initiative to tackle shop theft and street assaults; doing so can make so much difference to keeping people safe.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Home Secretary did not confirm explicitly about more visible policing in Blackpool but highlighted the initiatives being taken by Lancashire police.

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Q3 Lisa Smart Lib Dem Hazel Grove
Crime & Law Enforcement Community Security
Context

Home Office figures have shown a significant increase in religious hate crimes, with antisemitic hate crimes more than doubling. Jewish communities are facing heightened threats.

Question

The best community policing is embedded within communities, responding to their needs. Whether it is attacks on Jewish-owned businesses or hateful chants at music festivals, there are too many sobering reminders of the reality of the antisemitism that too many within the Jewish community across the UK are facing right now. Home Office figures have shown that religious hate crimes are at record highs, and that the number of hate crimes specifically targeting Jewish people has more than doubled. Everyone deserves to feel safe in our society, and that must include British Jewish communities, so what steps is the Home Secretary taking to ensure that police have the training and resources needed to effectively tackle antisemitic hate crimes, while supporting survivors?

Answer from Yvette Cooper

The hon. Member is right to highlight the appalling increase in antisemitism, antisemitic hate crime and assaults that took place after the events in the middle east. She will know that, in order to tackle antisemitism, we and the police work very closely with the Community Security Trust and we are introducing new measures to deal with intimidating protests outside synagogues.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific training and resources needed were not detailed.

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