HC Deb 15 March 2001 vol 364 cc701-2W
Mr. Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total number of police per head of population was (a) in each police force and (b) in total on the last date for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [152373]

Mr. Charles Clarke

The information is given in the table. The comparison 'population per police officer' provides a more meaningful figure than 'numbers of police per head of population'.

Force Police officers as at September 2000 Population as at June 1999 Population per officer
Avon and Somerset 2,941 1,501,193 510
Bedfordshire 1,006 562,214 559
Cambridgeshire 1,266 724,897 573
Cheshire 2,000 982,527 491
Cleveland 1,421 555,944 391
Cumbria 1,048 491,814 469
Derbyshire 1,780 974,084 547
Devon and Cornwall 2,873 1,569,666 546
Dorset 1,299 692,543 533
Durham 1,581 606,744 384
Dyfed-Powys 1,045 480,663 460
Essex 2,780 1,617,660 582
Gloucestershire 1,142 561,941 492
Greater Manchester 6,767 2,577,040 381
Gwent 1,271 556,622 438
Hampshire 3,435 1,781,049 519
Hertfordshire 1,961 1,043,028 532
Humberside 1,905 881,586 463
Kent 3,239 1,587,243 490
Lancashire 3,215 1,425,533 443
Leicestershire 2,010 934,687 465
Lincolnshire 1,162 628,612 541
Merseyside 4,081 1,403,625 344
Norfolk 1,387 796,460 574
Northamptonshire 1,166 621,162 533
Northumbria 3,885 1,418,626 365
North Wales 1,393 657,738 472
North Yorkshire 1,293 747,613 578
Nottinghamshire 2,232 1,032,685 463
South Wales 3,029 1,242,004 410
South Yorkshire 3,184 1,302,410 409
Staffordshire 2,157 1,060,606 492
Suffolk 1,115 674,639 605
Surrey 2,113 1,078,067 510
Sussex 2,812 1,514,991 539
Thames Valley 3,748 2,116,233 565
Warwickshire 912 507,909 557
West Mercia 1,906 1,140,577 598
West Midlands 7,350 2,626,505 357
West Yorkshire 4,806 2,115,380 440
Wiltshire 1,099 610,326 555
City of London1 720
Metropolitan police 24,695 7,285,045 295
Total force numbers2 122,230 52,689,891 431
Total for England and Wales including secondments 124,614 52,689,891 423
1 Police per head of Population for City and Metropolitan police are combined.
2 Excluding secondments to central service, NCS, NCIS and inter-force units.

Note:

Police numbers are full time equivalents.