UK Inquiry Tracker

Increasing police productivity

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 10 Jul 2025 Parliament page

Total police funding in 2025-26 is £19.6bn, with approx. 70% of this made up of central government funding and the rest raised through council tax. Government is aiming to put 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles, paid for by tackling waste … Read more Total police funding in 2025-26 is £19.6bn, with approx. 70% of this made up of central government funding and the rest raised through council tax. Government is aiming to put 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles, paid for by tackling waste through a programme of reform. This includes plans to centralise functions such as procurement and vetting, and greater use of technology to make officers more productive. The PAC’s 2018 report on the financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales warned that financial pressures were undermining confidence in the police, which the report found had been severely dented as forces reprioritised work in response to funding cuts. The Committee’s subsequent 2022 report highlighted significant challenges for the Home Office in realising a promised uplift in police numbers. The National Audit Office (NAO) reports in 2025 on police productivity, with a focus on the Home Office’s approach to supporting police forces to improve. Following the NAO’s report, the PAC will take evidence from senior Home Office officials, with likely topics for scrutiny including current financial constraints facing police forces, and how the Home Office is supporting forces to deliver value for money from funding. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Monday 10 November 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is the Committee which decides what information to publish and how. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

18 Recommendations

12 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 8 events

7 Apr
2026

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-third report from Session 2024-26

12 Mar
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s inquiry into Increasing police productivity, 04 M…

23 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the College of Policing relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 Novemb…

28 Jan
2026

Report published

63rd Report - Increasing police productivity

8 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasin…

15 Dec
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer at The College of Policing relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Incr…

24 Nov
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

24 Nov
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

24 Nov 2025

View on parliament.uk

Bethan Page-Jones · Home Office Dame Antonia Romeo DCB · Ministry of Justice James Bottomley · College of Policing Richard Clarke · Home Office Sir Andy Marsh QPM · College of Policing

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
63rd Report - Increasing police productivity	HC 1239	28 Jan 2026	30	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 result

28 Recommendation Accepted in Part

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

Future funding plan for 13,000 extra neighbourhood policing personnel beyond 2025-26 remains uncertain.

We asked how the government’s commitment to put 13,000 extra personnel into neighbourhood policing roles by 2029 will be funded. The government provided £200 million in 2025–26 to recruit 3,000 additional neighbourhood 69 Q 115 70 Q 130 71 Q … Read more

Government Response

The government allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams, but prioritising neighbourhood policing may place some limitations on workforce flexibility which the Home Office will keep under review.

HM Treasury

View details

Government Response AI assessment · 30 of 18 classified

Accepted 14

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 11

Deferred 3

Not Addressed 1

Total 18 recs + 12 conclusions

Correspondence 4 letters

12 Mar 2026 To committee Letter from the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s inquiry into Increasing police productivity, 04 March 2026

Parliament page

23 Feb 2026 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the College of Policing relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasing police productivity, 18 February 2026

Parliament page

8 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasing police productivity, 12 December 2025

Parliament page

15 Dec 2025 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive Officer at The College of Policing relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasing Police productivity, 08 December 2025

Parliament page