§ Mr. BarnesTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list(a) the establishments and (b) the current strength of each constabulary in England and Wales. [17199]
§ Mr. MichaelThe Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 removed the power for the Home Secretary to set police establishments. It was left to individual chief officers of police to determine the number of officers in their force. The strength of each force at 30 September 1997 is set out in the table.
453W
Police force numbers for England and Wales (provisional) As at 30 September 1997 Force Number of police officers Avon and Somerset 2,973 Bedfordshire 1,081 Cambridgeshire 1,228 Cheshire 2,029 City of London 836 Cleveland 1,481 Cumbria 1,162 Derbyshire 1,757 Devon and Cornwall 2,910 Dorset 1,279 Durham 1,479 Dyfed-Powys 1,008 Essex 2,944 Gloucestershire 1,107 Greater Manchester 6,908 Gwent 1,229 Hampshire 3,481 Herfordshire 1,738 Humberside 2,030 Kent 3,301 Lancashire 3,281 Leicestershire 1,958 Lincolnshire 1,189 Merseyside 4,222 Metropolitan Police 26,391 Norfolk 1,440 Northamptonshire 1,181 Northumbria 3,685 North Wales 1,370 North Yorkshire 1,383 Nottinghamshire 2,317 South Wales 2,990 South Yorkshire 3,158 Staffordshire 2,230
Police force numbers for England and Wales (provisional) As at 30 September 1997 Force Number of police officers Suffolk 1,198 Surrey 1,608 Sussex 3,040 Thames Valley 3,705 Warwickshire 914 West Mercia 2,031 West Midlands 7,079 West Yorkshire 5,250 Wiltshire 1,167 Total 124,751