§ 34. Mr. Dewarasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he is taking to ensure that police recruitment is directed towards the areas of greatest need.
§ Mr. BuchanForces whose total strength is near their authorised establishment have been asked to limit recruitment to the replacement of officers leaving the force and, where they cannot accept recruits, to advise applicants to seek appointment in forces seriously under strength. Such forces can continue to recruit without restriction.
§ Mr. DewarWould my hon. Friend not agree that it would help recruitment if some elements, which are often found on the Opposition benches, ceased to over-emphasise almost to distortion the difficulties in some areas?
§ Mr. BuchanI believe my hon. Friend is referring to the recent controversy involving Glasgow. I have no doubt that some of the irresponsible statements made in that situation acted as a great disincentive to recruiting.
§ 37. Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the recent recruitment figures for each Scottish police authority, and distinguish in those figures between recruits joining the police force for the first time and trained policemen transferring from one force to another.
§ Mr. BuchanAs the Answer contains a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. LawsonAm I right in thinking that there are very great differences in the success of recruitment in different areas? Will my hon. Friend resist any suggestion that a policy should be followed designed to favour certain bad areas at the expense of neighbouring forces by attracting to those areas trained policemen?
§ Mr. BuchanIf my hon. Friend is referring to discussions at present going 1275 on in relation to under-manning allowances, it would be preferable if I did not comment on that at present. If he feels that because of other facts there could be a move into certain areas of difficulty, I can assure him about his area. In the nine months up to September, 1968, Lanarkshire had 141 recruits compared with 61 in the same period for 1967.
§ Following is the Answer:
§ The numbers recruited by individual police authorities between 1st July and 30th September, 1968, are as follows:
| City and Burgh Forces | |
| Aberdeen | 1 |
| Dundee | 11 |
| Edinburgh | 24 |
| Glagsow | 75 |
| Inverness | — |
| County and Combined Forces | |
| Angus | 2 |
| Argyll | 2 |
| Ayr | 10 |
| Berwick, Roxburgh and Selkirk | 3 |
| Caithness | — |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 4 |
| Dunbartonshire | 7 |
| Fife | 7 |
| Inverness-shire | 1 |
| Lanarkshire | 25 |
| Lothians and Peebles | 9 |
| Orkney | — |
| Perth and Kinross | 4 |
| Renfrew and Bute | 9 |
| Ross and Sutherland | 2 |
| Scottish North-Eastern Counties | 6 |
| Stirling and Clackmannan | 7 |
| Zetland | — |
| 209 |
§ These figures are based on provisional monthly returns and it is not possible to distinguish between recruits on first appointment and transfers from other forces.
§ 39. Mr. Lawsonasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what progress has been made in recruiting civilians to release police officers for duties more appropriate to their training; and what has been the effect on the total manpower available to the police since 1964.
§ Mr. BuchanThere have been substantial increases in the number of traffic wardens and other civilians employed on clerical and technical duties and these have made a significant contribution to the strengths of police forces in Scotland. At 31st December, 1964, the total manpower available to the police numbered 1276 10,959, of whom 933 were civilians, and at 31st December, 1967, 11,722, of whom 1,475 were civilians.
§ Mr. LawsonI congratulate my hon. Friend on the success of the policy of recruiting such additional workers. I ask that in future it is always clearly shown how each police force stands in respect of both those categories of officers.
§ Mr. BuchanIt is useful to keep these points in mind. I thank my right hon. Friend for his comment. We have improved the figures of manpower available to the police in Scotland by almost 1,000 since 1964.
Earl of DalkeithDoes not the Minister feel that there is scope for increasing the recruitment of policewomen?
§ Mr. BuchanI am sorry. I did not quite hear. Did the hon. Gentleman ask if we are keen to recruit policewomen? The answer is, of course, "Yes".
§ Mr. BuchanI think that there is, subject to the general situation prevailing. Policewomen have played a very important rôle over the past few years. I hope that it will be a continuing and perhaps developing rôle.