§ Lord Vivianasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the recommended establishment by chief constables for policing their areas of responsibility; and what is the shortfall in each area. [HL942]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonMinisters have no direct control over police numbers. Under legislation passed by the previous government in 1994 it is for individual chief constables to determine the number of police officers in their force within the resources that are available. At the end of September 1999 there were 125,464 police officers in England and Wales. The table sets out the numbers of officers in each force as at 30 September 1999.
My right honourable Friend the Home Secretary announced on 9 February (House of Commons Official Report, cols. 172–74W) the allocation of funding under the Crime Fighting Fund for the recruitment of 5,000 extra police officers over and above the number that would otherwise have been recruited over the next three years.
153WA
Police Numbers—Change between March 1999 and September 1999 Force Strength as at 30 September 1999 Change since 31 March 1999 Avon & Somerset 2,988.7 -11 Bedfordshire 1,048.4 +7 Cambridgeshire 1,272.2 -2 Cheshire 2,043.6 -27 City of London 744.6 -33 Cleveland 1,372.6 -43 Cumbria 1,092.9 -33 Derbyshire 1,763.6 +5 Devon & Cornwall 2,861.1 -26 Dorset 1,276.1 -3 Durham 1,554.6 -13 Dyfed-Powys 1,048.6 +22 Essex 2,834.7 -56 Gloucestershire 1,098 -6 Greater Manchester 6,810.3 No change Gwent 1,261.3 +14 Hampshire 3,410.8 -63 Hertfordshire 1,760 +36 Humberside 1,926.2 -48 Kent 3,256.7 +56 Lancashire 3,221.4 -23 Leicestershire 1,997.5 +4 Lincolnshire 1,110.8 -29 Merseyside 4,070.8 -140 Metropolitan Police 25,884.5 -188 Norfolk 1,381.5 No change Northamptonshire 1,130 -7 Northumbria 3,800.1 -40 North Wales 1,399 +8 North Yorkshire 1,293.7 -43 Nottinghamshire 2,227 +2 South Wales 2,983 +2 South Yorkshire 3,165 -3 Staffordshire 2,206 -32 Suffolk 1,160 -30 Surrey 1,721.1 +59 Sussex 2,909.3 +63 Thames Valley 3,749.5 +1 Warwickshire 915.7 +8 West Mercia 1,979.4 -45 West Midlands 7,296.4 -24 West Yorkshire 4,873 -109 Wiltshire 1,150.2 -1 Force total strength 123,050 -791 Seconded police officers 2,414 +159 Total police service strength 125,464 -632 1Includes officers seconded to NCS, NCIS and central services such as National Police Training.