HC Deb 30 March 1999 vol 328 cc606-7W
Mr. Vaz

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a breakdown of (i) the Police Service and (ii) the Prison Service in England and Wales by ethnic origin and grade. [79048]

Mr. Boateng

Detailed information about the number of police officers by rank and ethnic origin is collected annually by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. The information in the table is for 31 March 1998.

Police Service—Police Officers by rank and ethnic group as at 31 March 1998
Asian Black Other Total
Asst. Chief Constable 1 — — 1
Superintendent 1 2 1 4
Chief Inspector 3 9 7 19
Inspector 19 9 10 38
Sergeant 87 83 59 229
Constable 687 936 437 2,060
Total 798 1,039 514 2,351

In addition, there were 132 ethnic minority police officers seconded to central services.

There were 719 Asian, 1,405 black and 609 other civilian support staff from the ethnic minorities employed in the Police Service at the end of March 1998, a total of 2,733. It is not possible to provide information by grade.

Numbers of Prison Service staff by grade and ethnic origin as at March 1999 are set out in tables that have been placed in the Library.