HC Deb 30 January 2001 vol 362 cc171-2W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the estimated net changes in police recruitment are in each force and in total in(a) the current year and (b) the next two years based on information given by forces in bids for the Crime Fighting Fund and funding allocations made under the fund; and if he will make a statement. [148014]

Mr. Charles Clarke

In their bids for a share of the recruitment scheme of the Crime Fighting Fund (CFF), made in January 2000, forces provided information on their projected recruitment in each of the years 2000–01 to 2002–03.

Net changes to that previously planned recruitment by forces will result from the allocation of extra recruits from the CFF. The net change is expected to total 9,000 recruits over the three years 2000–01 to 2002–03. The table shows the current force allocations from the CFF for each year.

Some forces have asked to defer part of their CFF allocation into the next financial year and other forces have asked to bring forward CFF recruitment from next financial year into this year. In total, forces have been given authority for a net deferral of up to 250 CFF recruits from 2000–01 to 2001–02.

The current allocations for each force vary, however, with changes to the forces' recruitment plans. The latest estimates, shown in the table, include an expected net deferral of 210 CFF recruits from 2000–01 to 2001–02.

CFF Allocation 2000–01 CFF Allocation 2001–02 CFF Allocation 2002–03
Avon and Somerset 67 51 77
Bedfordshire 28 31 31
Cambridgeshire 26 34 24
Cheshire 28 69 50
City of London 0 23 15
Cleveland 20 27 27
Cumbria 25 23 26
Derbyshire 65 39 54
Devon and Cornwall 77 79 79
Dorset 46 9 30
Durham 32 27 38
Dyfed-Powys 25 38 16
Essex 0 132 65
Gloucestershire 29 35 22
Greater Manchester 131 256 201
Gwent 46 3 32
Hampshire 20 139 84
Hertfordshire 0 70 37
Humberside 47 41 49
Kent 112 62 76
Lancashire 83 69 74
Leicestershire 46 56 38
Lincolnshire 29 18 29
Merseyside 125 93 114
Metropolitan 548 814 682
Norfolk 41 41 31
North Wales 34 32 38
North Yorkshire 20 23 25
Northamptonshire 64 0 26
Northumbria 71 101 82
Nottinghamshire 52 53 52

CFF Allocation 2000–01 CFF Allocation 2001–02 CFF Allocation 2002–03
South Wales 59 49 50
South Yorkshire 67 61 69
Staffordshire 49 51 46
Suffolk 31 21 31
Surrey 94 0 40
Sussex 51 82 73
Thames Valley 42 177 106
Warwickshire 35 0 24
West Mercia 70 39 43
West Midlands 222 130 171
West Yorkshire 107 91 94
Wiltshire 26 21 29
Total 2,790 3,210 3,000

Note

Allocations may differ from previously published figures, as they include agreed acceleration or deferral of CFF recruits between 2000–01 and 2001–02. In the case of the Metropolitan police agreement has been given to defer up to 155 CFF recruits from 2000–01 into 2001–02, but the force now expects to defer only 115.