§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what measures he has taken to encourage police services(a) in England and Wales and (b) in London to recruit from ranks of former RUC officer and reservists; what retraining facilities are available; and how many former RUC officers and reservists have been recruited in the last 12 months. [133543]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeOfficers of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) may apply to transfer to forces in England and Wales. Officers recruited through inter-force transfers to police forces in England and Wales, and the London area are generally excluded from calculating recruitment for the purposes of determining Crime Fighting Fund (CFF) grant entitlement. It has been agreed to make an exception to this in the case of RUC officers.
Members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Reserve Force (RUCR) are not members of the RUC and are therefore not eligible to transfer to any police force in England and Wales. They may apply to join forces in England and Wales subject to meeting the normal entry requirements of the force to which they apply.
Retraining is a matter for individual forces. They must assess what training is required for any transferees joining their force, paying particular attention to local (force) procedures.
No information is collected centrally on the number of police officers from the RUC who have transferred to police forces in England and Wales or the number of former RUC reservists who have been recruited to forces in England and Wales.