HC Deb 23 January 1996 vol 270 cc116-7W
Mr. Gordon Prentice

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the number of special constables in each police force in England, indicating in each case the ratio of specials to full-time officers and to the population of the force area. [10631]

Mr. Maclean

The following table, which is broken down by police force area, showsthe number of special constables in post on 30 September 19951; the number of regular officers in post on 30 September 19952; the proportion of regular officers the number of special constables notionally represents (disregarding discrepancies in hours of duty3: the population of each force area according to the latest available estimates from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (mid-1994)4; and the number of special constables per 5,000 population5.

Many special constables perform about four hours' duty a week.

Police force Specials1 Regulars2 Percentage3 Population (000's)4 Specials per 5 thousand population5
Hampshire 549 3,307 16.6 1,730 1.6
Hertfordshire 307 1,704 18.0 853 1.8
Humberside 380 2,024 18.8 890 2.1
Kent 598 3,099 19.3 1,546 1.9
Lancashire 594 3,194 18.6 1,424 2.1
Leicestershire 334 1,860 18.0 917 1.8
Lincolnshire 311 1,164 26.7 606 2.6
Merseyside 349 4,536 7.7 1,434 1.2
Metropolitan 1,657 27,395 6.0 7,455 1.1
Norfolk 325 1,391 23.4 769 2.1
Northamptonshire 298 1,160 25.7 595 2.5
Northumbria 479 3,610 13.3 1,442 1.7
North Wales 323 1.351 23.9 658 2.5
North Yorkshire 359 1,310 27.4 727 2.5
Nottinghamshire 534 2,314 23.1 1,031 2.6
South Wales 469 2,954 15.9 1,330 1.8
South Yorkshire 423 3,041 13.9 1,305 1.6
Staffordshire 687 2,190 31.4 1,054 3.3
Suffolk 419 1,158 36.2 649 3.2
Surrey 241 1,656 14.6 774 1.6
Sussex 514 3,020 17.0 1,449 1.8
Thames Valley 764 3,759 20.3 2,017 1.9
Warwickshire 351 982 35.7 496 3.5
West Mercia 587 2,007 29.2 1,116 2.6
West Midlands 849 7,078 12.0 2,628 1.6
West Yorkshire 783 5,122 15.3 2,104 1.9
Wiltshire 259 1,236 21.0 588 2.2
Total 19,655 124,697 — 51,629 —
1(a) Number of special constables in post at 30 September 1995.
2(b) Number of regular officers in post at 30 September 1995.
3(c) Special constables as an equivalent percentage of regular officers.
4(d) Population of police force area at 30 June 1994. (in thousands).
5(e) Number of special constables per five thousand head of population.