§ Mr. BatisteTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the Government's policy for funding and supporting Victim Support.
§ Mr. JackThe Government attach importance to the work of Victim Support in providing both practical help and advice and emotional support to victims of crime. There are currently about 380 branches and schemes with some 8,000 volunteer visitors covering 98 per cent. of the population of England and Wales. They handle about 800,000 cases a year.
Home Office grant to the national charity Victim Support will amount to £8.4 million this year. This is an
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Force As at 31 March 1979 Police strength Civilian strength Force population1 Police authority/population ratio Avon and Somerset 2,825 686 1,328,000 1:378 Bedfordshire 902 277 490,000 1:415 Cambridgeshire 1,064 302 564,000 1:413 Cheshire 1,778 397 914,000 1:420 Cleveland 1,334 308 569,000 1:363 Cumbria 1,056 250 474,000 1:363 Derbyshire 1,563 636 897,000 1:408 Devon and Cornwall 2,660 752 1,361,000 1:399 Dorset 1,128 281 583,000 1:414 Durham 1,312 505 608,000 1:335 Essex 2,461 686 1,357,000 1:431 Gloucestershire 1,076 231 493,000 1:377 Greater Manchester 6,419 1,415 2,675,000 1:341 Hampshire 2,949 698 1,564,000 1:429 Hertfordshire 1,462 370 799,000 1:436 Humberside 1,849 499 845,000 1:360 Kent 2,724 887 1,445,000 1:400 Lancashire 3,097 879 1,368,000 1:344 Leicestershire 1,701 363 833,000 1:404 Lincolnshire 1,171 314 530,000 1:357 Merseyside 4,472 914 1,562,000 1:290 Norfolk 1,223 248 675,000 1:459 Northamptonshire 905 254 514,000 1:443 Northumbria 3,272 768 1,465,000 1:362 North Yorkshire 1,342 338 654,000 1:389 Nottinghamshire 2,117 561 974,000 1:364 South Yorkshire 2,546 599 1,304,000 1:414 Staffordshire 1,978 571 994,000 1:390 Suffolk 1,064 329 588,000 1:422 Surrey 1,440 360 726,000 1:403 Sussex 2,758 723 1,278,000 1:367 Thames Valley 2,639 970 1,723,000 1:477 Warwickshire 841 204 467,000 1:447 West Mercia 1,743 493 963,000 1:431 West Midlands 5,981 1,418 2,730,000 1:369 West Yorkshire 4,727 1,186 2,073,000 1:351 Wiltshire 997 251 514,000 1:412 City of London 829 275 6,000 1:5 Metropolitan 22,214 12,443 7,445,000 1:215 1 Population figures provided by OPCS June 1977. increase of 15 per cent. over last year's provision, which itself represented a 28 per cent. increase over the previous year's.