§ Mr. Wheelerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the manpower position in the Metropolitan police and his plans for 1987–88.
§ Mr. HurdBetween May 1979 and January 1987 the numbers of Metropolitan police officers and civil staff were increased by 4,750 and 1,400 respectively. The police establishment has been raised by 926 over the period.
In my announcement on 20 May last year, I said that I would be prepared to authorise increases of up to 300 in the police establishment and 150 in the civil staff ceiling for 1987–88 provided that I was satisfied about the use of the same level of increases agreed for 1986–87. Although the strength of the force has increased and is expected to reach nearly 27,000 by 31 March 1987, it will still be some 550 officers short of its establishment. The Commissioner and I are determined that this shortfall should he made good as soon as possible. To this end, the capacity of the force training school has been increased and it will be able to take up to 2,180 recruits in 1987–88, 380 more than this year.
Since my announcement of 20 May the Metropolitan police have made good progress in civilianisation. They were given a target of releasing 100 officers for operational duty in 1986–87. They now plan to release 108 officers and to use 40 civil staff to fill essential new posts which would otherwise have to be filled by officers taken off the streets.
In addition, through the force reorganisation, a target was set for 200 officers to be released for operational duties by April 1988. In the event, it is now hoped to release 218 officers by April 1988. The formation in January 1987 of territorial support groups to replace the special patrol group and district support units has allowed the redeployment to other operational duties of a further 200 officers.
In the light of this progress, and following a review, I have decided to authorise the increases already foreshadowed for 1987–88 and also to approve an additional increase of 100 in the civil staff ceiling making a total increase of 250. This will bring the police establishment to 27,815 and the civil staff ceiling to 13,882.
The additional increase in the civil staff ceiling, which brings forward part of the increase in the ceiling previously envisaged for 1988–89 and 1989–90, will enable the Metropolitan police, within existing financial provision, to press ahead faster with civilianisation as recommended by the Committee of Public Accounts in its report last session on the financial control and accountability of Metropolitan police.