§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase the numbers of police officers in the Metropolitan police force. [108249]
§ Mr. StrawIt is for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner to determine overall police numbers within the resources available.
The strength of the Metropolitan Police fell by 2,060 officers between 1992 and 1998 under budgets set by the previous Administration. Numbers fell by a net 209 between March 1998 and September 1999.
We announced on 9 February that the Metropolitan Police has been allocated funds from the Crime Fighting Fund for 2000–01 which will enable them to recruit and train 1,113 officers over and above the levels planned for financial years 2000–03. This includes 242 officers in the next financial year and the Commissioner tells me that in the light of this, he hopes to maintain police officer numbers at a constant level through 2000–01.
Proposed five year crime reduction targets Percentage change Vehicle crime Burglary dwelling Robbery April 1998-March 1999 October 1998-September 1999 April 1998-March 1999 October 1998-September 1999 April 1998-March 1999 October 1998-September 1999 Avon and Somerset 30 28 29 26 — — Bedfordshire 30 35 20 32 — — Cambridgeshire 29 28 29 28 — — Cheshire 14 9 19 14 — — City of London 10 13 18 -3 — — Cleveland 30 26 20 19 — Cumbria 41 36 22 23 — — Derbyshire 33 31 30 31 — — Devon and Cornwall 33 31 34 31 — — Dorset 31 27 26 21 — — Durham 35 29 20 16 — — Dyfed-Powys 30 24 30 19 — — Essex1 10 10 10 10 — — Gloucestershire 25 22 25 27 — — Greater Manchester 34 33 25 19 10 15 Gwent 30 30 10 14 — — Hampshire 27 23 17 10 — — Hertfordshire1 14 210 14 16 — — Humberside 32 30 23 23 — — Kent 27 16 32 26 — — Lancashire 30 26 34 30 — — Leicestershire 34 30 30 24 — — Lincolnshire 18 17 37 40 — — Merseyside 30 33 12 13 10 12 Metropolitan Police1 31 35 310 310 3,415 3,415 Norfolk 14 13 18 17 — — North Wales 28 31 26 22 — — North Yorkshire 25 20 44 47 — — Northamptonshire 32 30 24 26 — — Northumbria 34 29 39 33 — — Nottinghamshire 47 44 64 63 — — South Wales 34 35 29 27 — — South Yorkshire 30 28 34 34 — —