§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what action he will take to assist(a) North Yorkshire police and (b) other forces to tackle the impact of early retirement on officer levels. [10185]
§ Mr. DenhamThe Home Office has asked the Police Negotiating Board to explore and agree ways to deliver a fair and more consistent approach towards early retirement due to ill health, so that forces, including North Yorkshire police, can match the performance of the best quartile by 2005. We also hope to introduce a national Occupational Health strategy for the police service, which should assist forces to manage cases of ill-health more effectively at the outset.