§ Mr. Matthew TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cause was of each revision to the statistics on police numbers for 31 March 2000 published in November 2000; and what the impact of each revision was on the difference between total police numbers for 31 March 2000 published in(a) November 2000 and (b) the final figures published on 15 January 2001. [157121]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeNo police strength figures were published in. November 2000. The figures for 31 March first appeared in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin 'Police Service Personnel England and Wales as at 31 March 2000' published on 30 August 2000. A correction to the 31 March 2000 figures was made in the next police strength Bulletin (concerned with figures for 30 September 2000), which was first published on 14 December 2000. This correction was made because it was discovered there had been some double counting of the number of secondments to central services. This originated from the National Criminal Intelligence Service return being completed incorrectly. The overall police strength figures were revised downwards by 248 from 124,418 to 124,170.
The figures for 30 September 2000 which were published on 14 December 2000 were subsequently revised, and the Bulletin re-issued on 16 January 2001. There were no differences between the police figures for 31 March 2000 in these two Bulletins. The revisions made in the 16 January 2001 publication related to the figures for 30 September. There were two changes. First, the overall police strength figures were revised upwards by 451 officers because of undercounting by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The number of officers seconded to Hertfordshire, Essex and Surrey had been deducted twice from the total number of officers.
Secondly, the MPS figure on minority ethnic officers on 30 September was corrected from 1,227 to 1,013 because the higher figure had included in the minority ethnic group some 214 officers classified as 'White Irish' or 'Other White'.
A further revision to the 30 September 2000 figures was made in the written answer given on 22 March 2001, Official Report, column 324W, to my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Mr. Pond) which concerned police strength numbers on 31 January 2001. This was due to a correction from Northumbria police who reduced their total number of officers by 67 from 3,885 to 3,818.