§ Mr. Ron Lewisasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the amount spent on the recent campaign to attract personnel to the police forces, giving the results achieved police force by police force; and, in view of the economic situation, if he will withdraw the recent notice sent to police committees, compelling them to join in another advertising campaign for police recruits.
§ Mr. Roy JenkinsIn answer to the first part of the Question, I would refer my hon. Friend to Appendix F to the recently published report of the Select Committee on Estimates (House of Commons Paper 145). This contains a full account of the costs and the results of the national police recruiting campaign. If my hon. Friend would like information about the number of recruits to any particular police force directly attributable to the campaign, I shall be glad to supply it.
The arrangements for the current campaign were settled after consultation with the local authority associations. The need for police recruits is still urgent, and I have no plans to alter the agreed arrangements.