HC Deb 07 December 1989 vol 163 cc385-90W
38. Mr. Robert G. Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many uniformed police officers have returned to beat duties in the last five years as a result of civilianisation and other initiatives, in the Metropolitan police district and in England and Wales.

Dr. Michael Clark

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many uniformed police officers have returned to beat duties in the last five years as a result of civilianisation and other value-for-money initiatives in the Metropolitan police district and in England and Wales.

61. Mr. Marland

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many uniformed police officers have returned to beat duties in the last five years as a result of civilianisation and other value-for-money initiatives, in the Metropolitan police district and in England and Wales.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

We estimate that since the 1983–84 financial year up until December 1988, the latest period for which information is readily available, the Metropolitan police have returned 608 officers to operational duties, and

Force 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Avon and Somerset 1 2 2 3 1 2
Bedfordshire 1
Cambridgeshire
Cheshire 2 1
City of London 1
Cleveland 1 1 2 1 1

provincial forces 3,343, through civilianisation. Estimates of police time saved through other value for money initiatives are not available.

62. Mr. Battle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he last met the chief constable of the West Midlands police; and what was discussed.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

I refer the hon. Member to the reply that I gave to a question from the hon. Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Wall) on 5 December at column181.

Mr. Vaz

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has received any indication from Mr. Don Doreston, the assistant chief constable of Derbyshire, as to when his report into the allegations that members of the Leicestershire police force were involved in the leaking of information to Mr. Joseph Wambaugh will be completed.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

I understand that the investigation into the allegations of improper disclosure of information by officers from the Leicestershire constabulary has now been completed. The report has been submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the Police Complaints Authority, who supervised the investigation, for their consideration.

Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police constables left their jobs in each police authority from 1978 to the present date(a) to retire or (b) to take other jobs outside the police force.

Mr. Lloyd

The information is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

General information on police officers retiring or resigning from provisional forces is available at appendix 9 in reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, copies of which are available in the Library.

Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers of all ranks have been injured requiring hospitalisation by police authority for the latest year for which figures are available.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

The information is not collected centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers of all ranks have been (i) suspended for seven days or more and (ii) dismissed by each police authority for each year from 1980 to the current year.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Information relating to numbers of officers suspended from duty pending investigation of alleged misconduct is not held centrally.

The table shows numbers of officers punished in disciplinary proceedings by dismissal from their force. Figures for the current year are not yet available.

Force 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988
Cumbria 1 1
Derbyshire 1 3 3
Devon and Cornwall 1
Dorset
Durham
Dyffd-Powys 2
Essex 2 2
Gloucestershire 1
Greater Manchester 1 3 3 5 5 1 5 2 2
Gwent 1 1
Hampshire 1 3 1
Hertfordshire
Humberside 1 1 1
Kent
Lancashire 5 1 2 2 2
Leicestershire 1 1 1
Lincolnshire 1
Merseyside 1 3 2 1 2
Metropolitan 16 27 8 10 14 9 12 15 19
Norfolk
Northamptonshire 1 1
Northumbria 3 4 2 5
North Wales 2 1
North Yorkshire 1
Nottinghamshire 2 1
South Wales 2 2 3 5
South Yorkshire 1
Staffordshire
Suffolk 2
Surrey 2 1 1
Sussex 1
Thames Valley 2 1 1 2
Warwickshire 1
West Mercia
West Midlands 1
West Yorkshire 1 1 2 2 3 1
Wiltshire 1

Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will produce a series of tables showing, as a percentage of the population, for each police authority by(a) police constables, (b) sergeants, (c) inspectors, (d) chief inspectors, (e) superintendents, (f) chief superintendents and (g) higher ranking officers in descending order by the ratio of (i) police constables, (ii) sergeants, (iii) inspectors, including chief inspectors, (iv) superintendents, including chief superintendents and (v) ranks above chief superintendent to population.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

I shall write to the hon. Member.

Chief Constable Deputy Chief Constable Assistant Chief Constable Chief Superintendent Superintendent Chief Inspector Inspector Sergeant Constable Total
Avon and Somerset 1 1 3 13 38 70 148 474 2,322 3,070
Bedfordshire 1 1 1 5 15 19 51 143 810 1,046
Cambridgeshire 1 1 1 5 13 26 56 192 903 1,198
Cheshire 1 1 2 8 22 29 105 290 1,410 1,868
Cleveland 1 1 2 7 20 28 94 238 1,098 1,489
Cumbria 1 1 1 7 17 25 70 187 847 1,156
Derbyshire 1 1 2 8 26 37 100 263 1,355 1,793
Devon and Cornwall 1 1 3 13 37 47 135 455 2,154 2,846
Dorset 1 1 1 6 17 22 68 195 946 1,257
Durham 1 1 2 6 17 27 78 216 1,027 1,375
Dyfed Powys 1 1 1 7 13 23 36 155 698 935
Essex 1 1 3 11 31 59 126 438 2,134 2,804
Gloucestershire 1 1 1 6 15 22 54 174 890 1,164
Greater Manchester 1 1 6 28 92 137 408 1,075 5,240 6,988
Gwent 1 1 1 5 15 17 48 154 765 1,007
Hampshire 1 1 3 10 32 55 127 478 2,441 3,148
Hertfordshire 1 1 2 9 24 31 89 262 1,232 1,651
Humberside 1 1 2 9 23 38 105 324 1,489 1,992

Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will produce a table showing for each police authority the numbers of (i) police constables, (ii) sergeants, (iii) inspectors, including chief, (iv) superintendents, including chief and (v) ranks above chief superintendent for each year from 1978 to the present.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Information on numbers and ranks of police officers in each force is available for each year up until 31 December 1988 in the annual reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, copies of which are available in the Library.

Force establishments by rank as at December 1989 are shown in the table:

Chief Constable Deputy Chief Constable Assistant Chief Constable Chief Superintendent Superintendent Chief Inspector Inspector Sergeant Constable Total
Kent 1 1 3 11 36 48 169 443 2,256 2,968
Lancashire 1 1 3 13 42 69 159 522 2,363 3,173
Leicestershire 1 1 2 7 25 35 93 292 1,304 1,760
Lincolnshire 1 1 1 5 12 25 66 196 876 1,183
Merseyside 1 1 4 18 60 77 252 757 3,531 4,701
Norfolk 1 1 1 6 17 22 67 200 1,047 1,362
Northamptonshire 1 1 1 6 13 23 69 166 841 1,121
Northumbria 1 1 3 14 48 60 189 511 2,686 3,513
North Wales 1 1 1 7 23 27 65 212 993 1,330
North Yorkshire 1 1 2 7 17 27 77 216 1,035 1,383
Nottinghamshire 1 1 2 9 35 41 131 338 1,760 2,318
South Wales 1 1 3 14 43 63 185 539 2,288 3,137
South Yorkshire 1 1 3 11 38 46 159 453 2,266 2,978
Staffordshire 1 1 2 11 31 50 121 342 1,629 2,188
Suffolk 1 1 1 6 17 20 59 182 899 1,186
Surrey 1 1 2 7 23 22 93 259 1,241 1,649
Sussex 1 1 3 11 35 39 173 457 2,220 2,940
Thames Valley 1 1 3 13 42 51 169 502 2,838 3,620
Warwickshire 1 1 1 5 14 18 61 154 737 992
West Mercia 1 1 2 10 30 38 128 298 1,483 1,991
West Midlands 1 1 5 22 80 121 367 1,067 5,166 6,830
West Yorkshire 1 1 5 20 69 81 288 818 3,976 5,259
Wiltshire 1 1 1 6 16 21 56 172 811 1,085
City of London 11 21 33 6 11 20 56 123 579 798
Metropolitan 16 215 337 154 238 489 1,440 4,322 21,714 28,415
Total 48 57 129 562 1,482 2,245 6,590 19,254 94,300 124,667
1 Includes ranks of assistant commissioner and above in Metropolitan police, and commissioner in the City of London police.
2 Includes deputy assistant commissioner in Metropolitan police and assistant commissioner in the City of London police.
3 Includes commanders in Metropolitan police and City of London police.

Mr. Boyes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will produce a table showing the percentage increase/decrease in the number of(a) police constables, (b) sergeants, (c) inspectors, including chief inspectors, (d) superintendents, including chief superintendents, and (e) ranks above chief superintendent, by police authority, in ascending order, by police constables and population for each year from 1978 to the latest available date.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

The information is not readily available and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.

Information on police numbers and ranks in each police force together with police/population ratios is given in the annual reports of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary, copies of which are available in the Library.

Ms. Richardson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he has any plans to issue guidance for professional purposes relating to formation of an anti-abortion guild of police officers.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

If such a guild were to be formed, it would be for chief officers of police to consider the possible relevance of paragraph I of schedule 2 to the Police Regulations 1987. This provides that a member of a police force shall at all times abstain from any activity which is likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of his duties or which is likely to give rise to the impression among members of the public that it may so interfere.

Mr. Haynes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he proposes to meet the Association of Chief Police Officers to discuss the presence of media personnel on police operations.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

I refer the hon. Member to the reply given to a question from the hon. Member for Mansfield (Mr. Meale) on 5 December 1989 at column180.