§ Mr. Andrew GeorgeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what factors are taken into account when determining the level of Government support grant for constabularies in remoter rural areas. [40598]
§ Mr. MichaelUnder the police funding formula, 0.5 per cent. of available resources are allocated on the basis of population sparsity. I have recently commissioned external research into the additional costs, if any, of policing sparsely populated rural areas. The results of this research will be available to inform the police settlement in 2000/2001.
Police per 1,000 of population Police Force 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 Avon and Somerset 2.1 2.06 2.04 2.04 2.03 Bedfordshire 2.13 2.07 2.07 1.99 1.97 Cambridgeshire 1.85 1.84 1.78 1.85 1.84 Cheshire 1.96 1.98 2.04 2.09 2.07 Cleveland 2.55 2.57 2.54 2.61 2.65 City of London 227.6 169.5 167.3 165.8 161.4 Cumbria 2.40 2.38 2.27 2.33 2.37 Derbyshire 1.91 1.88 1.84 1.86 1.83 Devon & Cornwall 1.91 1.88 1.88 1.86 1.89 Dorset 1.94 1.91 1.86 1.88 1.88 Durham 2.28 2.23 2.31 2.4 2.43 Dyfed-Powys 2.05 2.06 2.09 2.11 2.11 Essex 1.97 1.95 1.92 1.96 1.94 Gloucestershire 2.13 2.12 2.05 2.04 1.99 Greater Manchester 2.7 2.73 2.69 2.69 2.68 Gwent 2.21 2.20 2.31 2.23 2.21 Hampshire 1.9 1.88 1.92 1.97 1.99 Hertfordshire 1.98 2.0 1.99 2.04 2.01 Humberside 2.31 2.28 2.3 2.31 2.29 Kent 2.04 2.02 2.01 2.09 2.13 Lancashire 2.23 2.26 2.22 2.28 2.3 Leicestershire 2.0 2.01 2.07 2.1 2.11 Lincolnshire 2.0 1.98 1.87 1.94 1.93 Merseyside 3.26 3.25 3.09 2.98 2.97 Metropolitan Police 3.73 3.69 3.65 3.53 3.49 Norfolk 1.89 1.82 1.81 1.84 1.85 North Wales 2.06 2.08 2.09 2.09 2.09 North Yorkshire 1.83 1.79 1.81 1.82 1.88 Northamptonshire 1.98 1.94 1.92 1.95 1.95 Northumbria 2.49 2.5 2.55 2.56 2.57 Nottinghamshire 2.26 2.25 2.25 2.25 2.25 South Wales 2.36 2.27 2.27 2.41 2.43 South Yorkshire 2.31 2.33 2.36 2.42 2.42 Staffordshire 2.1 2.12 2.09 2.09 2.11 Suffolk 1.87 1.83 1.73 1.78 1.81