§ Miss McIntoshTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the numbers of police officers in North Yorkshire in(a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04;[92824]
(2) if he will make a statement on policing in North Yorkshire, with particular reference to how many officers he forecasts in the authority for years (a) 2004, (b) 2005 and (c) 2006. [93011]
§ Mr. DenhamNorth Yorkshire Police had 1,417 officers on 31 March 2002. This was 112 more than March 2001 and was a record number of officers. Information on strength for 31 March 2003 will not be published until the summer.
Under the Crime Fighting Fund (CFF) recruitment initiative North Yorkshire Police have been allocated an additional 68 recruits over and above the force's previous recruitment plans for the three years to March 2003. Funding for these officers will continue in 2003–04. The CFF will continue in 2003–04 and we will fund 75 per cent. of the cost of new recruits through CFF rather than 100 per cent. as in the past three years. North Yorkshire Police Authority has been allocated £20,000 which on the basis of 75 per cent. funding should be sufficient for the force to recruit a further four police officers through this fund.
1040WApart from ring-fenced provision for a particular purpose, such as the Crime Fighting Fund, decisions about the police budget and the allocation of resources, including numbers of officers, are matters for the North Yorkshire Police Authority and the Chief Constable (Ms Della Cannings). It is therefore not possible to provide estimates of North Yorkshires police strength in future years.
§ Mr. SwireTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers(a) are in service and (b) were in service in (i) 1997 and (ii) 2001 in Devon. [93379]
§ Mr. DenhamDevon is part of the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary and information is not collected on a regular basis about the number of officers deployed to Basic Command Units with in force areas. I would however refer the hon. Member to my reply of 2 December 2002,Official Report, column 589W to the hon. Member for North Southwark and Bermondsey (Simon Hughes) setting out police strength for each Basic Command Unit for each force in England and Wales as at 31 March 2002.
The deployment of resources between the four territorial divisions and other specialist operational and support units of the Devon & Cornwall Constabulary is an operational matter for the Chief Constable (Mrs. Maria Wallis QPM).