§ Mr. TouhigTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the average number of hours worked per week by special constables; [24940]
(2) what is the average number of hours worked per week by special constables in each constabulary; [24946]
(3) what is the average number of hours of training received by special constables. [24947]
§ Mr. MacleanThis information is not available centrally.
§ Ms Janet AndersonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the funding provided by his Department for the training of special constables; [24896]
(2) if he will list by police force area the cost of the special constabulary, (a) in total and (b) as a percentage of the budget for each force. [24888]
§ Mr. MacleanSpecials are not paid but they must be recruited, trained, equipped and organised. They also receive allowances and reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses. Each special constabulary is funded through the police grant for the force with which it is associated. It is for the chief officers to decide the level of funding to devote to their special constables and the proportion of those funds to commit to training purposes. Funds are occasionally augmented by support from sponsors.
Costs for specials are not identified separately by most forces and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. It is estimated that in their first year of service special constables cost about £1,400 and thereafter the annual cost is in the region of £500, although there are variations between forces.
The Government have found an additional £10 million to encourage chief officers to recruit more specials and to improve their conditions of service, administration and training. It will help to meet the cost of implementing the most urgent recommendations of the Home Office special constabulary working group, whose report is due to be published this summer. The working group has recommended that forces do more to identify separately special constabulary costs.
Most of the new fund is being offered on a challenge funding basis: forces must compete for the money through a bidding process, and those which secure tangible offers of support from other sources are favoured. But some £250,000 of the fund has been earmarked for a training package for those special constables who have been promoted into supervisory grades.
§ Mr. TouhigTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the number of special constables currently employed(a) in total and (b) in each constabulary; [24944]
(2) what is the number of special constables recruited in each year since 1992–93;[24942]
(3) how many special constables recruited in (a) 1992–93, (b) 1993–94, (c) 1994–95 and (d) 1995–96 have since resigned from service. [24941]
517W
§ Mr. MacleanSpecial constables are not employed but are volunteers. The total number of special constables in post on 20 March was 19,834. This figure is broken down by police force area in the table.
The number of special constables recruited in the calendar years 1992 and 1993 were 5,450 and 5,479 respectively. Thereafter, numbers have been recorded on a financial year basis. In 1994–95, 4,564 specials were recruited, and a further 2,150 were recruited between April and September 1995. Figures are not yet available for the second half of 1995–96.
Those forces which keep records about resignations do not specifically include information about when each special concerned was recruited. Anecdotal evidence suggests that most specials resign after at least two years, which is longer than the national average for those involved in volunteering, and that they will have offered their services to the force for at least four hours every week.
Force Number of specials Avon and Somerset 685 Bedfordshire 187 Cambridgeshire 280 Cheshire 279 City of London 77 Cleveland 185 Cumbria 207 Derbyshire 419 Devon and Cornwall 1,097 Dorset 254 Durham 183 Dyfed Powys 301 Essex 622 Gloucestershire 329 Greater Manchester 721 Gwent 139 Hampshire 503 Hertfordshire 310 Humberside 385 Kent 557 Lancashire 548 Leicestershire 364 Lincolnshire 306 Merseyside 368 Metropolitan 1,758 Norfolk 319 Northamptonshire 300 Northumbria 477 North Wales 345 North Yorkshire 371 Nottinghamshire 554 South Wales 467 South Yorkshire 373 Staffordshire 705 Suffolk 415 Surrey 249 Sussex 518 Thames Valley 765 Warwickshire 341 West Mercia 603 West Midlands 944 West Yorkshire 783 Wiltshire 241