§ Mr. Altonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the strength of the drugs squad for each police force in England and Wales for each of the last 10 years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Giles ShawFigures are readily available only for the two previous years and are given in the table. The responsibilities of drugs squads vary between forces and the figures are therefore not necessarily directly comparable.
394W
Force 1 January 1984 1 January 1985 Avon & Somerset 25 25 Bedfordshire 7 8 Cambridgeshire 7 9 Cheshire 8 14 Cleveland 10 13 Cumbria 3 10 Derbyshire 10 10 Devon & Cornwell 21 24 Dorset 12 11 Durham 7 8 Essex 7 8 Gloucestershire 9 10 Greater Manchester 21 22 Hampshire 23 25 Hertfordshire 5 10 Humberside 14 14 Kent 14 11 Lancashire 28 32 Leicestershire 11 13 Lincolnshire 8 8 London, City of — — Merseyside 11 14 Metropolitan Police 38 38 Norfolk 8 9 Northamptonshire 5 5 Northumbria 14 15 North Yorkshire 10 11 Nottinghamshire 13 13 South Yorkshire 17 17 Staffordshire 12 12 Suffolk 12 13 Surrey 6 6 Sussex 18 21 Thames Valley 18 18 Warwickshire 8 8 West Mercia 18 18 West Midlands 37 43 West Yorkshire 29 29 Wiltshire 7 6 Dyfed Powys 9 9 Gwent 7 7 North Wales 8 11 South Wales 23 22 Total 578 630