§ Lord Harris of Greenwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many Fraud Squad officers there were in each police force in England and Wales on 1st January 1990; and what were the comparable figures for 1st January 1980.
The Minister of State, Home Office (Earl Ferrers)The table below gives information on the position at 1st January 1990 for the Metropolitan Police and at 31st December 1988 for provincial forces, which are the most recent figures available. Nineteen eighty-five was the earliest year for which this information is available in an accessible form. Comparison is therefore made with these figures.
832WA
31 December 1988 1985(2) Avon and Somerset 23 10 Bedfordshire 8 6 Cambridgeshire 5 5 Cheshire 6 4 Cleveland 8 9 Cumbria 3 4 Derbyshire 17 8 Devon and Cornwall 10 10 Dorset 5 5 Durham 5 8 Dyfed Powys 3 2 Essex 14 11 Gloucestershire 5 5 Greater Manchester 28 19 Gwent 5 4 Hampshire 20 21 Hertfordshire 7 7 Humberside 11 12 Kent 16 12 Lancashire 10 11
31 December 1988 1985(2) Leicestershire 6 7 Lincolnshire 6 6 Merseyside 35 16 Norfolk 6 6 Northamptonshire 7 3 Northumbria 12 12 North Wales 4 4 North Yorkshire 4 4 Nottinghamshire 13 11 South Wales 16 13 South Yorkshire 12 9 Staffordshire 7 7 Suffolk 5 6 Surrey 3 2 Sussex 10 10 Thames Valley 12 11 Warwickshire 7 7 West Mercia 8 8 West Midlands 44 34 West Yorkshire 36 26 Wiltshire 5 4 City of London 64 62 Metropolitan 143(1) 147 TOTAL 674 588 (1) As at 1st January 1990. (2) Information taken from Appendix G to the Roskill Report on Fraud, which shows also that the 1985 total compares with 232 in 1971, 427 in 1976 and 583 in 1982.