HC Deb 27 October 1997 vol 299 c565
3. Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith

How many additional police constables were recruited in the year to April 1997. [11659]

Mr. Straw

The number of police constables in England and Wales increased by 460 during 1996–97 to 98,132.

Sir Geoffrey Johnson Smith

I welcome the fact that the Sussex police have increased recruitment over the past two years. I am grateful to the last Government for that initiative.

Will the Home Secretary ensure that basic pay is increased to an adequate level, so that we can encourage more young people to join the police force—and not just more people, but people of adequate calibre?

Mr. Straw

I am not sure why the right hon. Gentleman is so generous in his gratitude to the last Administration, given that there were 11 fewer police officers in Sussex during the period in question than in the previous year. As for his second point, about pay, we intend to maintain the arrangements for police pay that were introduced following the Edmund-Davies report late in 1979.

Mr. Winnick

Would there not be one more police constable alive today if the court concerned had not granted bail, in opposition to what the police and the Crown Prosecution Service said at the time in giving their reasons why bail should not be granted? Does not the foul and terrible murder of the WPC demonstrate the dangers that some police officers face day in, day out? The House should recognise those dangers, despite the criticisms—often justified—of one or two officers.

Mr. Straw

As I said in answer to the hon. Member for Epping Forest (Mrs. Laing), I entirely understand the point that has been made. I hope that the House will appreciate, however, that until various inquiries have been completed—including the inquest—it would be wrong for me to comment on the precise circumstances in which the court came to issue bail.

Mr. Greenway

Does the Home Secretary agree with the police, who estimate that there were 3,000 more constables in post in spring this year than in 1992? Will he confirm to the House his intention to provide the funds for, and go ahead with, the recruitment of a further 2,000 police officers, as the previous Government planned?

Mr. Straw

As the electorate found out, there was a huge difference between what the previous Government planned and what they were able to do. The hon. Gentleman's intervention was as unwise as that of the right hon. Member for Wealden (Sir G. Johnson Smith). The simple truth is that, despite two successive promises to increase the number of police officers by 2,000 during the previous Parliament, the number in post fell by 469. That was the Conservative record.