§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Gravesham (Mr. Pond) of 22 March 2001,Official Report, columns 323–28W, on police numbers, if the data provided for the period up to 31 January relied on projections of (a) overall numbers, (b) wastage, (c) recruitment or (d) other factors, in place of the actual outturn; [155938]
(2) what the difference is between the calculation of interim police strength figures and the final figures; and if he will make a statement; [155845]
(3) pursuant to his answer to the hon. Member for Gravesham of 22 March 2001, Official Report, columns 323–28W, on police numbers, for what reason the figures given in his answer (a) were described as interim figures in Home Office Press Release 076/2001 and (b) were not described as interim figures in his answer to the hon. Member for Gravesham; and when he expects to publish final figures for 31 January; [155943]
(4) on how many occasions since 2 May 1997 he has published detailed police strength figures which were not previously available in any form (a) other than in a Home Office statistical bulletin, (b) for any date other than 31 March or 30 September and (c) in interim form. [155844]
§ Mr. Charles Clarke[holding answer 27 March 2001]The figures published on 22 March were supplied by police forces. They were actual police and civilian full-time equivalent numbers as at 31 January 2001, not projections.
The quality of the January data is comparable with that in the standard Statistical Bulletins. All such returns are potentially subject to revision in the light of subsequent amendments received from forces. The revisions appear in subsequent Statistical Bulletins. The next return from forces will provide the six monthly figures from October 2000 to 31 March 2001.
The numbers were described as interim because they were produced between the normal publications for September 2000 and March 2001. They were not full year figures, nor did they purport to be projections of full year figures.
The statistics were produced by a special monitoring exercise undertaken by the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate. The exercise was 71W to enable us to assess the impact on police service strength of the Crime Fighting Fund in its first year of operation, supported by details of recruitment and wastage. As the Crime Fighting Fund is in its first year of operation, the need for such an exercise has not previously arisen.
Details of police strength have been, and continue to be, provided in response to Parliamentary Questions.