§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the hours of overtime worked in each Metropolitan police district on school crossing patrol work.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe information requested is not available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the total number of school crossing patrols in the Metropolitan police for January 1983, January 1984, January 1985 and the latest figure available; and what is the comparative figure for the requests from schools for school crossing patrols.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe number of school crossing patrols on these dates was as follows:
Number 31 January 1983 1,291 31 January 1984 1,254 31 January 1985 1,197 30 November 1986 1,128 Records of the requests made by schools for crossing patrols are not kept centrally.
I understand from the Commissioner that the decrease in the number of school crossing patrols is largely attributable to problems with recruitment and retention.