HC Deb 15 December 1994 vol 251 cc749-50W
Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide details of the calculation used by his Department in determining appropriate provision for the Dyfed-Powys police; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean

The calculation used by the Home Office determined allocations of police grant for 1995–96. Details of that calculation are provided in the draft "Police Grant Report (England and Wales 1995–96", a copy of which was placed in the Library by my right hon. and learned Friend on 1 December.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy that Welsh police forces are able to maintain funding levels comparable with those of similar English forces; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean

My right hon. and learned Friend announced on 1 December,Official Report, columns 544–45, his provisional police grant allocations to police authorities in England and Wales for 1995–96. The provisional standard spending assessment allocations to Welsh police authorities are a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give the cost of pension provision to the budget of the Dyfed-Powys police for each year from 1987 to date; if he will give an estimate of the commensurate figures for 1995–96 and 1996–97; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean

Net pension payments by the Dyfed-Powys police authority, as derived from the annual police revenue grant claim forms submitted by the authority, for the period 1987–88 to 1993–94 were as follows.

Year £
1987–88 3,008,079
1988–89 2,693,674
1989–90 3,528,776
1990–91 3,509,717
1991–92 4,222,518
1992–93 4,025,892
1993–94 5,253,417

Figures for 1994–95 are not yet available. It will be for Dyfed-Powys police authority, in setting their budget requirements for 1995–96 and 1996–97, to decide the appropriate provision to be set aside to meet pension costs.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the officer establishment for the Dyfed-Powys police; how many officers are in post; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean

The approved establishment for Dyfed-Powys police is 972 officers. At the end of September, the actual strength was 971. As from 1 April next year, formal approval of establishments will end, and complement levels will be entirely for local decision.

Mr. Alex Carlile

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what will be the cost of the DNA provisions of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to the Dyfed-Powys police in a full accounting year; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Maclean

The new power we have given the police to take non-intimate samples without consent from anyone charged or reported for caution for a recordable offence is permissive. The police are not required to take samples in every case. Costs will therefore depend upon what use Dyfed-Powys police make of this new power. That will be a decision for the chief constable, who must decide on the most effective use of the resources available to him.