§ Mr. Chris Smith54: asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if his Department has carried out any research into the proportion of police time spent on duties other than the prevention or detection of crime; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThere are only a few police duties which are not connected in some way with the prevention or detection of crime, and the Department has not conducted a study of the proportion of police time spent on such duties. But many of the research projects carried out by the Home Office involve studying how police time is spent. A current study being conducted in conjunction with the West Midlands police, which aims to release officers from administrative tasks for operational duties, is due to he completed later this year. Two further projects are studying the tasks of uniformed patrol officers, and the results of this research will be published in due course.