Written questions by Obese-Jecty.

What policing powers Border Force personnel hold.

Border Force immigration officers and designated customs officials in England and Wales may utilise some powers set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 as applied by The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Application to immigration officers and designated customs officials in England and Wales) Order 2013.In Northern Ireland, Border Force immigration officers and designated customs officials may utilise some powers set out in The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 as applied by The Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (Application to Immigration Officers and Designated Customs Officials in Northern Ireland) and Consequential Amendments Regulations 2026.In Scotland, The Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 (Consequential Provisions) Order 2018 applies relevant provisions from the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2016 to Border Force immigration officers and designated customs officials.Additionally, section 2 of the UK Borders Act 2007 provides a power for designated immigration officers in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland to detain an individual they think are subject to a warrant for arrest or may be liable to arrest by a constable under certain sections of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, or the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, or the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995, subject to a certificate under section 74B of the Extradition Act 2003. Designated immigration officers may detain such individuals for up to three hours pending the arrival of a constable.

With which company Cambridgeshire Constabulary has a contract for the provision of body armour for a) firearms and b) roads policing officers.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary maintains its own procurement function and the Home Office does not hold information on ongoing or prior contractual arrangements.

On what date the contract for body armour between Mehler Vario System GmbH and Cambridgeshire Constabulary expired.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary maintains its own procurement function and the Home Office does not hold information on ongoing or prior contractual arrangements.

With reference to page 22 of the Police reform white paper, From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), by when will every neighbourhood police officer and Police Community Support Officer have completed enhanced additional training.

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG) commitments were met in July 2025, including the start of the national roll out of the College of Policing’s Neighbourhood Policing Programme – Career Pathway (NPP), providing specialist training to police officers and PCSOs.The NPG confirms by the end of this Parliament, every neighbourhood police officer and PCSO will complete enhanced additional training under the NPP, covering themes such as community engagement, problem solving and tackling ASB.

With reference to page 22 of the Police reform white paper, From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), how can local residents find out who their named, contactable officer is.

The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee is ensuring a more consistent standard of neighbourhood policing across England and Wales. Every neighbourhood has named, and contactable officers dedicated to tackling crime and anti-social behaviour locally, with forces increasing patrols in town centres and other hotspots based on local demand and intelligence.Details of all named, contactable officers can be found on force websites, where the public are able to type in their postcode to find out about their neighbourhood policing team and area, local policing priorities and how to contact their neighbourhood teams.

With reference to page 22 of the Police reform white paper, From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), by when will she design new standards so that neighbourhood officers are not routinely abstracted to other areas.

Visible and responsive local policing is essential to restoring public confidence. The Government is committed to rebuilding neighbourhood policing and restoring the vital link between police forces and the communities they serve.As part of our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, we are working with forces to develop national abstraction standards for delivery by the end of this Parliament. These will protect the additional 13,000 neighbourhood officers from being routinely abstracted so they can focus on tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhoods.

With reference to page 16 of the Police reform white paper, From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), by when will the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme be fully operational.

The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) was announced in November 2024 as part of the Government’s manifesto commitment to set a up a programme to drive down costs in policing.The programme is operational and already making savings. Some examples of the work already underway includes signing 39 forces up to a new commercial energy strategy and piloting central purchasing within policing. These savings will be fully validated and assured after the conclusion of the financial year.

With reference to page 16 of the Police reform white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” (CP1489), by when will she establish a new Performance Unit in the Home Office.

A new Police Performance Unit was established in May 2025 with a temporary head appointed on a part time basis. The permanent head, a retired Deputy Chief Constable, has occupied the post since January 2026.This Unit will assess police force’s performance to identify areas of high and poor performance, driving sustained and sustainable improvements where necessary, to ensure the public is effectively protected.

With reference to page 13 of the Police reform white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” (CP1489), what will be the location of the new National Centre for AI in Policing.

The Government is determined to ramp up the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence across policing. We recently announced over £115 million over the next three years to support the rapid and responsible development, testing and rollout of AI tools across all 43 police forces in England and Wales.This will be spearheaded by the creation of Police.AI, a new National Centre for AI in Policing. The Home Office is now working closely with the NPCC AI portfolio to establish Police.AI. This includes securing a host organisation and establishing and agreeing an estates strategy. Police.AI will transition into the National Police Service when it is appropriate to do so.

With reference to page 13 of the Police reform white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” (CP1489), by when will she publish her new Fraud Strategy.

The Government’s Manifesto set a clear commitment to deliver a new Fraud Strategy. This commitment will be delivered in early 2026.The Strategy has been developed in close collaboration with stakeholders from industry, law enforcement and non profit organisations. It will set out how we will disrupt fraud, safeguard individuals and businesses and respond to fraud with support and justice for victims.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of the terror threat posed by the forthcoming Universal Studios theme park on (a) traffic, (b) firearms and (c) neighbourhood policing in the tri-force area of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire.

The Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025, also known as Martyn’s Law, will require certain public premises and events to be prepared and ready to keep the public safe in a terrorist attack. The Act applies to England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and establishes a minimum legal security standard of protective security at larger premises and events for the first time.Decisions around the types and numbers of officers deployed, including traffic, firearms and neighbourhood police officers, are operational decisions for Chief Officers to determine in line with their strategic assessment of threat and risk.In line with the British model of policing by consent, the use of firearms by the police should always be a last resort, however, where an operational need arises, specialist armed officers are available to be deployed. National capability is kept under constant review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council.Forces in England and Wales regularly review their Neighbourhood Policing resources based on the current and planned risks and threats in their local policing area.

With reference to page 12 of the Police reform white paper entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), what assessment she has made of the potential merits of decoupling the police allocation formula from overall police officer numbers for each force.

The Government’s Safer Streets Mission sets a clear expectation for policing to deliver safer communities and improved public confidence. An effective, well-supported police service is central to achieving this. That is why forces should have the right resources to tackle crime and keep communities safe.As announced in the police funding settlement and Police Reform White Paper, we are abolishing arbitrary officer headcounts from 2026-27, and are instead prioritising the introduction of a neighbourhood policing grant. This will ensure that forces are putting uniformed officers out into the community, where people want to see them, fighting crime on our streets.For 2026-27, the police funding settlement announced that a total of up to £363 million will be available to forces through the neighbourhood policing grant, to support the delivery of an additional 1,750 neighbourhood policing personnel by 31 March 2027.The Police Reform White Paper also set out our plans for a new Police Workforce Strategy, which will provide the structure and direction needed to modernise the policing workforce at a national level and build a profession fit for the future, while ensuring forces retain the flexibility to meet the specific needs of their local communities.

With reference to page 12 of the Police reform white paper entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” (CP1489), what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals for vetting standards to allow police forces to retrospectively suspend police officers under investigation for (a) domestic abuse and (b) sexual offences.

The recently published police reform White Paper sets out the Government’s plans to further strengthen the police vetting and misconduct systems These reforms will, for the first time, place police vetting standards into legislation. These new regulations will include robust measures which will enable forces to exclude individuals from policing who have a caution or conviction for relevant violence against women and girls offences, and will be subject to consultation with the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales (PABEW) Police forces have existing powers to suspend police officers who are subject to an allegation, but must first consider temporary redeployment to alternative duties or location. We will therefore strengthen these arrangements, placing greater requirements on police forces to suspend officers who are under investigation for crimes such as domestic abuse or sexual offences. Subject to the statutory consultation process, we intend to make these changes this summer.

With reference to page 11 of the white paper entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), what her proposed timetable is for publishing new national policing guarantees.

The Home Secretary announced her plans to introduce a set of Local Policing Guarantees in the white paper “From Local to National: A New Model for Policing” published on 26 January. Local Policing Guarantees will set out minimum levels of service expected across frontline policing across England and Wales, and therefore, on a national basis. The Local Policing Guarantees will be complemented by the introduction of performance targets into the Police Performance Framework.Publication of the Local Policing Guarantees and subsequent performance targets will happen as soon as possible following further engagement with the policing sector to provide assurances that the scope is reflective of operational policing.

With reference to page 11 of the Police reform white paper entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), from which financial year does the revised police funding formula apply.

The White Paper represents the most significant reforms to policing for nearly 200 years. The reforms to our policing system set out in the White Paper will have significant consequences for the way policing is funded in future. Changes to police governance, force mergers and the creation of the National Police Service require a new way of allocating funding between forces, aligned with these new structures.We will launch an independent review of police force structures, which will report in the summer. Once we have considered the outcome of the review, we will set out further proposals to reflect changes in the new model of policing.

With reference to page 10 of the Police reform white paper From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), by what date will the independent review of police force structures report its findings.

The Police Reform White Paper, published on 26 January 2026, set out an ambitious package of reform, including an ambition to significantly reduce the number of police forces across England and Wales by the end of next Parliament.We will shortly launch an Independent Review of Police Force Structures, which will make recommendations on the optimum number and configuration of forces. It will be led by an independent Chair and will consider a wide range of evidence in making its recommendations by Summer.We will announce the Chair and publish the full Terms of Reference for the Review shortly.

What assessment has she made of the potential benefit of establishing a joint Public order, firearms and tactics training centre in Cambridgeshire.

The use of police resources and the provision of training within police forces is a matter for Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners, who are operationally independent of government.

With reference to page 9 of her Department's White Paper, entitled From Local to National: A New Model for Policing, published on 26 January 2026, CP1489, what steps she is planning to take to remove bureaucratic barriers linked to crime and incident recording standards.

The Government is committed to a proportionate approach to the recording of crime and incidents that ensures the police focus on the crimes that matter to local communities.The College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council have been commissioned to undertake a comprehensive review of the recording of Non-Crime Hate Incidents (NCHIs).This will examine and make recommendations about when such incidents should be recorded and how best to balance public safety with freedom of expression. The findings of this review will also inform consideration of standards, especially around the recording of online crime.The Government has committed to update Parliament once the findings are published and will consider any changes required to the statutory Code of Practice on NCHIs introduced in 2023.

With reference to page 9 of the Police reform white paper From Local to National: A New Model for Policing (CP1489), what Artificial Intelligence powered a) tools and b) software to automate manual processes will she roll-out.

The Government is determined to ramp up the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence across policing. We have already begun to support policing to adopt AI responsibly, with over £50 million invested to date in priority areas such as facial recognition technologies, AI enabled audio visual file redaction, and robotic process automation. These technologies are already helping to catch more criminals and make policing more efficient. We will continue progressing this work in the coming years.We recently announced over £115 million over the next three years to support the rapid and responsible development, testing and rollout of AI tools across all 43 police forces in England and Wales.This will be spearheaded by the creation of Police.AI, a new National Centre for AI in Policing. Whilst specific use cases and tools are still being investigated and developed, in its first year, Police.AI is expected to focus on some of the biggest administrative pressures facing policing. This includes developing and supporting tools to automate tasks such as disclosure, the analysis of CCTV footage, production of case files, crime recording and classification, and the translation and transcription of documents. These tools are expected to save around six million policing hours a year, while improving the speed and quality of service provided to victims and witnesses.Police.AI will support forces to adopt AI tools and software by testing and assuring AI models, helping with scaling implementation, and providing public facing transparency through a registry of AI tools in use by policing.This announcement reflects the Government’s commitment to supporting policing to use AI in an evidence based and transparent way to catch more criminals, speed up investigations and free up officers for frontline duties.

Which occupations have been (a) added and (b) removed from the shortage occupation list since 5 July 2024.

The Government's Immigration White Paper set out how we will phase out the Immigration Salary List (ISL, formerly the Shortage Occupation List), and introduce a new Temporary Shortage List (TSL) , where entries will be genuinely temporary and linked to workforce plans to tackle the root causes of workforce shortages.As interim measures, we applied end dates to the ISL and added two occupations (“1232 Residential, day and domiciliary care managers and proprietors” and “6131 Nursing auxiliaries and assistants”) on 22 July 2025. We also introduced the interim TSL at this time.The ISL can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-immigration-salary-list/skilled-worker-visa-immigration-salary-listThe interim TSL can be found here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-listThe Migration Advisory Committee are currently reviewing the TSL and are due to report in July this year.