HC Deb 19 March 2003 vol 401 cc829-30W
Hugh Bayley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many uniformed police officers North Yorkshire police employed in(a)1991, (b)1997 and (c)2002. [102645]

2002. Mr. Bob Ainsworth

Information about the number of uniformed police officers is not collected centrally. Total police officer and civilian support staff strength figures for North Yorkshire are given in the following table. The force had a record number of officers at 31March

North Yorkshire police
Police officer strength Civilian support staff
31 March 1991 1,387 449
31 March 1997 1,338 519
31 March 2002 1,417 743

Source

Home Office Statistical Bulletins—Police Service Strength—1997 to 2002 and historical data.

By 31 March 2002, total police service strength in England and Wales had reached the record number of 129,603, on track for the Government's targets of 130,000 by March 2003 and 132,500 in 2004.

Under the Crime Fighting Fund (CFF) recruitment initiative North Yorkshire police were allocated 68 recruits over and above the force's previous recruitment plans for the three years to March 2003. In 2003–04, in addition to funding for the continuing cost of these

Number of Asian/Asian British police
Forces 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02
Avon and Somerset 6 7 7 7 6
Bedfordshire 16 15 15 14 23
Cambridgeshire 6 4 6 5 7
Cheshire 0 1 0 2 2
City of London 0 5 5 5 7
Cleveland 13 15 13 13 14
Cumbria 2 2 3 3 3
Derbyshire 21 20 25 27 29
Devon and Cornwall 1 1 1 2 2
Dorset 1 3 1 0 3
Durham 4 5 5 5 6
Dyfed-Powys 0 1 3 3 2
Essex 9 10 7 5 3
Gloucestershire 7 0 2 6 2
Great Manchester 60 58 61 63 70
Gwent 0 0 0 1 11
Hampshire 12 12 14 18 15
Hertfordshire 5 5 12 13 12

recruits, a further £23,000 will be available to the force from the Crime Fighting Fund. We estimate that this will allow a strength increase of up to four officers by the end of 2003–04.