§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the current rate of wastage amongst recruits into the police service. [HL729]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton)The information requested is not collected centrally in England and Wales. The numbers of police officers recruited, and overall wastage for police officers, in England and Wales for the six months ending September 2000 were 3,271 and 2,884 respectively. This figure for wastage includes retirements, resignations, dismissals, deaths and transfers to police forces outside England and Wales.
The percentage wastage rate for the year 1999 to 2000 was 3.7 per cent, which, compared to other organisations, is very low. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's 2000 labour turnover survey reported a wastage rate of 18.3 per cent for all employees in 1999.
In the year ending March 2000, there were 437 police recruits in Scotland, and 24 officers left during their probationary period, either by voluntary resignation or discharge.
In Northern Ireland, there were 924 recruits between 9 April 1995 and 2 April 2000, and eight of these resigned voluntarily during their probation period.