§ Mr. WoodwardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the(a) total standard spending, (b) special police grants and central support services and (c) capital investment in (i) Merseyside Police, (ii) Greater Manchester Police and (iii) England and Wales in (A) 1997–98, (B) 1998–99, (C) 1999–2000, (D) 2000–01, (E) 2001–02 and (F) the projected levels for 2002–03. [71275]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 23 July 2002]:
On 31 March 2002 total police numbers, including secondments to National Crime Squad, National Criminal Intelligence Service and central services in England and Wales were 129,603 an increase of 3,922 or 3.1 per cent. since March 2001. This is a record number of police officers and the largest annual increase in police numbers since March 1976.
I am also pleased to report that on 31 March 2002, 19 forces in England and Wales had record numbers of police officers.
The substantial investment we are putting into the police service is delivering the improvements that we promised. We have delivered record numbers of officers ahead of our target of April this year and police strength in March 2002 was only 400 short of the target of 130,000 police officers for 31 March 2003.
A detailed breakdown of police personnel data can be found in Home Office Statistical Bulletin No. 10/02 ("Police Service Strength-England and Wales, 31 March 2002") which was published on 17 September 2002. A copy has been placed in the Library. It can also be found on the internet at www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ hosbpubs1.
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Police Strength—England and Wales Government Region Police force Strength as at 31 March 2002 Durham2 1,614 Northumbria2 3,929 North West 17,804 Cheshire 2,059 Cumbria 1,100 Greater Manchester2 7,217 Lancashire2 3,304 Merseyside 4,125 Yorkshire and the Humber 11,564 Humberside2 2,058 North Yorkshire2 1,417 South Yorkshire 3,199 West Yorkshire 4,889 East Midlands 8,690 Derbyshire 1,848 Leicestershire2 2,100 Lincolnshire 1,198 Northamptonshire2 1,214 Nottinghamshire 2,330 West Midlands 12,801 Staffordshire 2,133 Warwickshire 969 West Mercia 2,018 West Midlands2 7,681 Eastern 9,872 Bedfordshire 1,069 Cambridgeshire2 1,362 Essex 2,946 Hertfordshire 1,825 Norfolk2 1,468 Suffolk 1,203 London 26,987 City of London 764 Metropolitan Police 26,223 South East 15,482 Hampshire2 3,480 Kent 3,355 Surrey 1,992 Sussex 2,893 Thames Valley 3,762 South West 9,870 Avon & Somerset2 3,096 Devon & Cornwall2 3,053 Dorset2 1,381 Gloucestershire2 1,183 Wiltshire 1,157 Wales 7,194 Dyfed Powys2 1,132 Gwent2 1,333 North Wales2 1,506 South Wales 3,222 England & Wales (exc. Secondments)1 127,267 Secondments 2,336 TOTAL (incl. secondments)1 129,603 Notes:
1 Because of rounding, constituent parts may not necessarily sum to the totals.
2 Forces with record published numbers.