§ Miss WiddecombeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 13 April 2000,Official Report, column 258W, if his estimates of the cost of a police recruit, published in the Crime Fighting Fund bidding guidelines still apply; what the cost is of providing (a) the 2,000 additional recruits in 2000–01 and (b) the 3,000 additional recruits in 2001–02; if he has announced funding for the provision of the 2,000 additional recruits in 2000–01 above the £11 million he announced on 6 April 2000 and the £35 million he announced on 30 September 1999; what discussions he has had with police forces on the revised allocation of those recruits and of funding for them; if he will publish the revised allocation; and if he will make a statement. [119780]
§ Mr. StrawI refer the right hon. Member to the reply I gave her on 6 April 2000,Official Report, columns 595–96W.
The estimates of the cost of a police recruit as set out in the Crime Fighting Fund bidding guidelines, a copy of which was placed in the Library on 2 December 1999, still apply. My officials have held discussions with police service and police authority representatives and I will make a further announcement as soon as the details of the accelerated scheme have been finalised.