§ 15. Mr. David AtkinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the percentage increase in resources to the Dorset police authority for the current year. [34531]
§ Mr. KirkhopeThe Dorset police authority's spending power for 1996–97 will be 6.2 per cent. more than last year, an increase well above the national average.
§ Mr. AtkinsonOn behalf of my constituents, I thank my hon. Friend for that real increase in the resources of the Dorset police this year. Will he confirm that, since 1979, under the Conservatives, spending on Dorset police has increased by 112 per cent. in real terms and that the number of police officers and civilian support staff has increased by 467, as a result of which crime is coming down in Dorset? Can he say by how many he expects the number of police officers in Dorset to increase in the next three years?
§ Mr. KirkhopeI agree entirely with the statistics that my hon. Friend has just put to the House. Crime is coming down in Dorset. Spending is going up in Dorset. Police pay has gone up in Dorset. Indeed, the spending power of Dorset has increased dramatically. On top of that, Dorset is one of the beneficiaries of our closed circuit television challenge competition and has done extremely well out of it. That will help to curb crime even further in the future.