HC Deb 19 November 2001 vol 375 cc93-4W
Mr. Steinberg

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the percentage of police officers who leave the police force after(a) two years, (b) five years and (c) 10 years. [10672]

Mr. Denham

As part of the process of monitoring progress on "Dismantling Barriers", Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary has requested information from forces about the number of officers who left during 2000–01.

This is the first year for which information has been collected in the current format and some forces have been unable to provide the information requested. The following table is based on the information so far available. It covers only 26 of the 43 police forces in England and Wales and may not be representative of the police service as a whole.

Percentage of officers leaving the police service by length of service 2000–011,2,3
Percentage of total leavers
Less than 2 years 7
2 years—less than 5 years 12
Five years—less than 10 years 13
10 years and over 68
1 Percentages calculated using data from 26 forces in England and Wales: Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Cheshire, City of London, Cleveland, Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Dyfed-Powys, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Merseyside, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Sussex, Thames Valley, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Wiltshire.
2 Leaving: all leavers, medical or ordinary retirement, dismissals, resignations, transfers and deaths.
3 Length of service is calculated as at 31 March 2000 and includes service in other police forces as well as in the force an officer left.