HC Deb 26 October 1990 vol 178 c313W
Mr. Lawrence

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is Her Majesty's Government's policy towards special constables; and what have been the difficulties in the implementation of that policy.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Our policy is to encourage chief officers of police to increase the numbers of special constables and to deploy them, after suitable training, on interesting and challenging duties in support of the regular police. Over the past 10 years there has been a decline in the number of special constables, but we hope to redress this through a national publicity campaign starting in 1991 and extending over the next three years.

Mr. Lawrence

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many special constables there are at present; how many there have been in each of the past 10 years; and how many there are expected to be over the next five years.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

At the end of 1989 there were 15,589 special constables in England and Wales. The numbers enrolled on 31 December of each year from 1980 were as follows:

Special constables
1980 15,108
1981 14,978
1982 15,160
1983 15,331
1984 16,021
1985 16,161
1986 16,070
1987 16,209
1988 15,788

It is not possible to predict the number of special constables for the next five years but we shall be launching a national publicity campaign in 1991 with the aim of increasing the numbers.