Community Support Officers

HC Deb 27 November 2003 vol 415 cc400-1W

Mr. Woodward

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community support officers served(a) St. Helens, (b) Merseyside and (c) the North West region in each year since 1992. [141290]

Ms Blears

The Community Support Officers (CSO) initiative began in September 2002. Accordingly between 1992 and September 2002, there were no CSOs in St. Helens, Merseyside and the North West region.

The table gives a breakdown of CSO deployment in the North West region from December 2002 to date and a projection for April 2004.

Force	31 December 2002	1 April 2003	1Recruitment to date	21 April 2004
St. Helens	0	8	10	20
Merseyside	0	40	64	100
Total North West Region	21	278	357	426

¹1 December 2003

²Projection