§ Mr. RuaneTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in each police authority area in each of the last 20 years; and what the predicted numbers of officers are for the next three years in each case. [140477]
§ Mr. Charles Clarke[holding answer 27 November 2000]: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Rydale (Mr. Greenway) on 10 November 1999, Official Report, column 590W, for the years 1991 to 1999. I also wrote to the hon. Member for Rydale on 19 January 2000 providing information for the earlier years (1979 to 1990). A copy of the letter and tables were placed in the Library.
For police numbers on 31 March 2000, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary gave to the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) on 19 July 2000, Official Report, column 178W.
Projecting police numbers is difficult. Apart from special arrangements like the Crime Fighting Fund—where money is provided specifically for additional recruitment—Ministers have no control over local decisions on the mix of officer strength and other resources that police authorities and chief constables may consider best for their police forces. It is even more difficult to attempt projections at the level of individual forces. In addition to the changes that may flow from the decisions of police authorities and chief constables, transfers take place between forces and between forces and the national agencies (NCS and NCIS) and central services).
We have provided funds to ensure that there is a step-change in the number of officers inside the service from, overall, 126,000 in 2000–01, rising to 128,000 in 2001–02 and to 130,000 in 2002–03. There may be some slippage, but the aim is to ensure a significant change in the number.
No projections have been made for 2003–04.