§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends police forces to meet the target for ethnic minority police in areas with a very small percentage of ethnic minorities. [73679]
§ Mr. BoatengIndividual targets will be set for each force for the recruitment, retention and progression of ethnic minority officers. These targets will inevitably have regard to the minority ethnic population of the community served by the individual police force.
§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many ethnic minority police officers Cumbria Constabulary will need to recruit to meet a 7 per cent. ethnic minority target. [73680]
§ Mr. BoatengNo targets have yet been set. For the police service broadly to reflect the minority ethnic population of England and Wales, there would need to be an overall ethnic minority representation of at least 6 per cent. Each force will be asked to set targets for recruitment, retention and progression for ethnic minority officers. Force targets will have regard to ethnic composition of the community served.
The minority ethnic population in Cumbria is approximately 0.4 per cent. of the total population of the area. Inevitably, this will mean that targets for this area will be below the national average.
§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how dispersed asylum seekers are to be taken into account in determining whether the target for ethnic minority police has been met. [73677]
§ Mr. BoatengThe police service needs to reflect the communities it serves, which means that, taking England and Wales as a whole, the aim should be for minority ethnic representation of at least six per cent. Not all minority ethnic residents in an area will be eligible to join the police, but it is unlikely that the number of asylum seekers measured against the total population will have a significant impact on targets.