§ Mr. CousinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the(a) size and (b) case load of police fraud teams in each year since 1996.
[12648]
§ Mr. Denham(a) I am afraid that this information is not kept centrally and can be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, for the last two years Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has collected data from all forces in England and Wales according to a range of 62 staff functions, one of which is fraud. The staff function for fraud is defined as "staff who predominantly investigate fraud cases (not including staff who are predominantly employed in asset confiscation duties)" and "staff who are predominantly employed to support the investigation of fraud cases (not including staff who are predominantly employed to support asset confiscation duties)". The data are as follows:
389W
1999–2000 2000–01 Police force area Police officer
Civilian staff
Police officer
Civilian staff
Avon and Somerset 17 1 15 2 Bedfordshire 8 1 13 3 Cambridgeshire 7 0 6 0 Cheshire 16 0 15 3 City of London 74 12 70 11 Cleveland 10 0 10 0 Cumbria 4 0 4 0 Derbyshire 10 1 12 1 Devon and Cornwall 10 0 18 5 Dorset 13 1 14 2 Durham 5 0 4 0 Dyfed-Powys 7 0 5 1 Essex 0 0 0 0 Gloucester 8 1 8 1 Greater Manchester 36 0 35 0 Gwent 5 0 5 0 Hampshire 11 3 12 3 Hertfordshire 10 0 11 0 Humberside 9 1 10 1 Kent 14 4 13 11 Lancashire 0 0 0 0 Leicester 0 0 7 0 Lincolnshire 7 0 7 0 Merseyside 0 4 0 4 Metropolitan police 118 0 68 2 Norfolk 7 0 7 0 North Wales 9 0 0 0
1999–2000 2000–01 Police force area Police officer
Civilian staff
Police officer
Civilian staff
North Yorkshire 6 0 6 0 Northamptonshire 8 2 8 4 Northumbria 14 0 0 0 Nottinghamshire 11 1 17 1 South Wales 15 2 3 0 South Yorkshire 21 2 20 5 Staffordshire 10 2 10 2 Suffolk 6 0 8 2 Surrey 12 0 17 3 Sussex 2 1 0 2 Thames Valley 15 4 15 5 Warwickshire 1 0 6 1
Fraud and forgery Police force area April 1996 to March 1997
April 1997 to March 1998
April 19981 to March 1999
April 1999 to March 2000
April 2000 to March 2001
Avon and Somerset 4,209 3,655 9,950 8,518 9,211 Bedfordshire 2,027 1,742 4,114 4,760 4,299 Cambridgeshire 1,491 1,375 2,389 3,251 2,780 Cheshire 2,325 1,848 2,146 2,192 2,390 Cleveland 1,350 1,525 2,261 2,744 2,880 Cumbria 946 1,156 1,388 1,310 1,094 Derbyshire 1,400 1,271 4,200 4,739 4,670 Devon and Cornwall 2,272 2,255 7,064 6,925 6,564 Dorset 1,315 1,264 6,334 5,866 5,045 Durham 1,193 1,163 1,311 1,314 1,394 Essex 2,526 2,458 4,366 5,470 6,615 Gloucestershire 1,551 1,484 2,527 3,284 3,105 Greater Manchester 5,411 6,519 15,830 20,043 18,579 Hampshire 3,998 3,669 5,130 6,393 5,847 Hertfordshire 1,225 1,418 2,312 2,935 3,982 Humberside 2,588 2,381 3,582 3,745 3,787 Kent 2,879 3,034 5,687 7,387 7,965 Lancashire 3,394 3,557 4,446 4,024 5,935 Leicestershire 3,417 2,795 7,227 8,398 6,925 Lincolnshire 1,344 1,144 2,723 1,641 1,662 City of London 384 507 862 1,214 1,145 Merseyside 3,999 4,275 4,884 4,794 5,021 Metropolitan police 41,157 43,437 80,541 105,150 83,453 Norfolk 1,222 1,056 2,488 3,251 2,742 Northamptonshire 1,211 1,230 4,425 4,225 3,661 Northumbria 2,017 2,315 4,991 5,022 5,365 North Yorkshire 989 976 2,563 2,551 2,498 Nottinghamshire 3,223 2,869 4,736 6,195 7,038 South Yorkshire 2,567 2,262 3,951 4,794 5,551 Staffordshire 2,106 2,196 3,830 4,885 6,083 Suffolk 1,302 1,069 2,099 2,182 2,372 Surrey 1,315 1,456 2,994 3,808 5,133 Sussex 2,677 3,059 7,790 8,615 9,886 Thames Valley 4,467 4,016 11,778 14,191 16,085 Warwickshire 932 910 2,401 2,383 2,067 West Mercia 1,960 1,865 3,961 4,210 3,898 West Midlands 5,781 4,987 15,675 26,856 29,322 West Yorkshire 5,034 5,458 10,608 11,533 10,626 Wiltshire 914 824 1,933 2,086 2,200 Dyfed-Powys 621 448 1,402 1,136 1,226 Gwent 1,415 1,402 2,395 2,586 2,532 North Wales 956 841 1,869 1,570 1,777 South Wales 2,865 3,061 6,340 6,597 4,914 England and Wales total 135,975 136,232 279,503 334,773 319,324 1 New Home Office counting rules were issued for recorded crime on 1 April 1998