§ Mr. Terlezkiasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will call for a report from the chief constable of South Glamorgan on the numbers of (a) police establishment and (b) police in post in (i) 1979 and (ii) 1985 in (x) Cardiff and (y) the police stations covering the Cardiff, West constituency.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThe authorised establishments and strengths on 31 December 1979 and 31 December 1985 of Cardiff central and Cardiff greater divisions, which are the two territorial divisions covering Cardiff in the south Wales constabulary, were as follows:
217W
On 31 December Authorised Establishment Strength 'C' (Cardiff Central) 1979 409 409 Division 1985 411 396 'D' (Cardiff 1979 306 306 Greater) Division 1985 325 318 I understand that finance will be available in 1986–87 to enable the south Wales constabulary to fill its existing force vacancies, and arrangements are in hand for it to do so as soon as possible.
Chief officers of police keep the allocation and use of force manpower under constant review to meet current objectives and priorities and local needs. Establishment figures showing a more detailed distribution for particular areas of the force would therefore be misleading and would not adequately reflect the numbers of police officers actually deployed there at any one time, which will include officers from central divisions, such as the traffic divisions.