HC Deb 25 April 1995 vol 258 cc438-40W
Mr. Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers were in post in(a) north Yorkshire and (b) England and Wales on 31 December 1974 and on the same date in 1979 and 1994. [20021]

Mr. Maclean

The information is as follows:

North Yorkshire England and Wales
December 1974 1,209 100,774
December 1979 1,338 111,754
December 1994 1,313 125,293

Mr. Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers are available for(a) front-line, (b) support and front-line and (c) administrative duties; and what is the resident population in each police force in England and Wales. [20018]

Mr. Maclean

Data on deployment of police officers are not available in the form requested. The numbers of police officers deployed on operational policing and on support duties are set out in the table. Data on the population in each force area in England and Wales are in the annual report of Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary 1993, a copy of which is in the Library.

Police strength— and support roles1(1993)
Police strength (operations) Police strength (support)
Avon and Somerset 2,286 738
Bedfordshire 838 329
Cambridgeshire 940 285
Cheshire 1,542 331
City of London 564 228
Cleveland 1,116 298
Cumbria 968 216
Derbyshire 1,408 382
Devon and Cornwall 2,391 514
Dorset 1,056 236
Durham 1,028 359
Dyfed-Powys 844 122
Essex 2,256 691
Gloucestershire 866 274
Greater Manchester 4,971 2,074
Gwent 819 170
Hampshire 2,663 607
Hertfordshire 1,356 323
Humberside 1,522 511
Kent 2,629 524
Lancashire 2,343 794
Leicestershire 1,365 472
Lincolnshire 1,028 176
Merseyside 3,494 1,168
Metropolitan Police 19,932 7,211
Norfolk 1,102 332
North Wales 1,104 237
North Yorkshire 1,034 300
Northamptonshire 1,002 179
Northumbria 2,742 849
Nottinghamshire 1,900 449
South Wales 2,628 514
South Yorkshire 2,389 626
Staffordshire 1,697 502
Suffolk 976 239
Surrey 1,451 199
Sussex 2,285 692
Thames Valley 2,827 996
Warwickshire 761 242

Police strength—operations and support roles1 (1993)
Police strength (operations) Police strength (support)
West Mercia 1,578 478
West Midlands 5,012 1,932
West Yorkshire 3,641 1,345
Wiltshire 929 247
1 The police strength figures do not include supernumerary officers, officers on secondment—for example, regional crime squads—or officers working overseas. The figures are full-time equivalents.