§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (1) how many transfer requests from London South Region have been approved by the British Transport Police in the past 12 months; what the average waiting time for them was; and how many of them were on urgent compassionate grounds; [145030]
(2) how many outstanding requests for transfer are being processed by the British Transport Police; from and to which regions; and how many of them are on urgent compassionate grounds; [145031]
(3) what the current waiting time is for a transfer within (a) the British Transport Police and (b) from London South Region to another region of the British Transport Police. [145032]
§ Mr. HillThe Chief Constable is responsible for direction and control of the British Transport Police (BTP), including the deployment and transfer of police constables. As a national force with over 2,070 constables operating throughout Great Britain, the BTP handles a large number of requests each year for transfer between its eight areas. A high proportion of these are on compassionate grounds and of an urgent nature. The BTP have advised me that they do not collate specific details or statistics regarding transfers within the force, and that the figures requested could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.