HC Deb 11 November 1999 vol 337 cc800-1W
Mr. Bob Russell

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people served in the special constabulary of each police force in each of the past five years for which figures are available. [89552]

Mr. Charles Clarke

[pursuant to the reply, 5 July 1999, c.330-31]: The table setting out the number of special constables in post in each police force in England and Wales for the past five years has been revised to take account of some typographical errors in the figures given in the columns for 1996 and 1997. The figures have been further revised to take account of corrections which forces have made in their returns for 1996.

The revised table is as follows:

Force 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Avon and Somerset 651 688 759 621 547
Bedfordshire 189 189 182 186 154
Cambridgeshire 279 275 303 320 310
Cheshire 321 274 475 459 407
City of London 83 77 86 76 64
Cleveland 212 195 160 164 126
Cumbria 241 201 189 198 204
Derbyshire 434 413 428 380 317
Devon and Cornwall 1,142 1,102 1,148 1,024 918
Dorset 221 254 289 315 305
Durham 200 187 184 144 159
Dyfed-Powys 302 314 283 254 237
Essex 674 608 634 638 544
Gloucestershire 320 330 297 276 233
Greater Manchester 768 746 685 598 523
Gwent 126 136 157 119 113
Hampshire 598 564 611 698 760
Hertfordshire 320 315 297 306 238
Humberside 427 391 340 324 269
Kent 569 555 589 592 526
Lancashire 608 531 483 489 449
Leicestershire 356 360 415 406 316
Lincolnshire 322 299 271 260 216
Merseyside 384 333 401 419 458
Metropolitan Police 1,550 1,850 1,714 1,282 1,138
Norfolk 345 319 402 337 336
Northamptonshire 303 289 316 288 230
Northumbria 506 471 533 400 342
North Wales 288 332 341 358 400
North Yorkshire 381 360 362 358 276
Nottinghamshire 552 537 620 558 461

Force 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
South Wales 477 461 361 366 338
South Yorkshire 452 381 308 281 246
Staffordshire 725 702 685 595 468
Suffolk 409 407 379 397 420
Surrey 238 260 297 235 224
Sussex 527 511 472 442 393
Thames Valley 679 744 656 609 569
Warwickshire 352 340 381 345 261
West Mercia 582 613 582 512 515
West Midlands 818 897 945 889 731
West Yorkshire 777 709 690 589 559
Wiltshire 318 233 154 149 184
Total 20,026 19,753 19,864 18,256 16,484

The figures for 1995 have been supplied by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Those for 1996–99 have been supplied by the Home Office Research Development and Statistics Directorate.