HC Deb 28 January 2002 vol 379 cc86-7W
Mrs. May

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will publish(a) the most recent figures, (b) the figures for May 1997 based on the old boundaries and (c) estimated figures for May 1997 based on the new boundaries, for the number of police officers within the city of London and Metropolitan police areas, broken down by London borough. [13844]

Mr. Denham

[holding answer 9 November 2001]: The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has provided police strength in the Metropolitan police at 31 October 2001 and 1 July 1997 broken down by borough. Information for May 1997 is not available.

Borough Strength 31 October 20011 Strength 1 July 19971
Kensington and Chelsea 539.51 648.30
Westminster 1,540.96 1,712.91
Camden 681.72 698.35
Hammersmith and Fulham 506.14 559.65
Hackney 675.15 665.64
Tower Hamlets 527.95 573.09
Waltham Forest 449.81 490.62
Redbridge 387.32 555.00
Havering 322.72 325.59
Newham 577.41 599.88
Barking and Dagenham 285.82 299.05
Lambeth 863.58 946.10
Southwark 784.76 849.46
Islington 564.79 568.60
Lewisham 567.50 613.75
Bromley 422.60 473.84
Harrow 315.42 281.60
Brent 604.14 636.33
Greenwich 570.14 597.65
Bexley 322.09 280.65
Barnet 509.92 727.16
Richmond upon Thames 263.17 278.85
Hounslow 416.29 446.60
Kingston upon Thames 256.40 354.33
Merton 289.26 315.85
Wandsworth 545.92 622.94
Ealing 617.87 635.97
Hillingdon 369.70 403.10
Enfield 474.91 538.30
Haringey 542.59 546.60
Croydon 566.77 604.60
Sutton 252.74 406.10
Borough Total 16,624.07 18,254.46
Heathrow2 287.26 375.15
Spelthorne3 194.40
Recruits, non borough units and HQ staff 8,621.52 7,846.27
Total 25,532.85 26,670.28
1Figures are full-time equivalents
2These posts are paid for by Heathrow airport plc.
3Spelthorne was transferred to Surrey police in April 2000.

The Metropolitan police force area boundary was changed in April 2000. The Metropolitan Police Service are unable to provide estimated figures for officers in post in 1997 on the basis of the new boundaries.

There were 10,040 civilians in the Metropolitan police on 31 March 2001 and 13,493 on 31 March 1997.

The city of London police force was unaffected by the Metropolitan police force area boundary changes. The city of London Police had 859 police officers on 31 March 1997 and 705 on 2 November 2001. The force employed 347 civilian support staff in March 1997 and 223 in March 2001.