HC Deb 06 December 1999 vol 340 cc380-1W
38. Mr. Brady

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on police resources in Greater Manchester. [99715]

Mr. Charles Clarke

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced in a reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Halton (Mr. Twigg) on 25 November 1999,Official Report, columns 176–78W, the provisional funding settlement for the Greater Manchester Police for 2000–01. The police authority's provisional funding allocation is £386 million. This is an increase of 2.8 per cent. over 1999–2000, which is in line with the average increase in funding for England and Wales next year. It will be for the police authority to set the budget for the next financial year. It is for the chief officer to determine staffing levels within the overall resources available.

The Government are also making available additional resources, as part of a new ring-fenced Crime Fighting Fund, to enable the police to recruit 5,000 officers over and above the number that forces would otherwise have recruited over the next three years from April 2000. The Greater Manchester Police Authority will be able to make a bid for a share of this funding.