§ Mr. NormanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many(a) police constables, (b) sergeants and (c) inspectors were transferred from the Kent Police Force to the Metropolitan Police Force in each of the last five years; [131701]
(2) what the vacancy rate was for (a) police constables, (b) sergeants and (c) inspectors in each of the last five years for the Kent Police Force area; [131702]
(3)how many police officers have retired from Kent Police Force in each of the last five years; and what the average age of retirement was. [131759]
§ Ms BlearsThere have been no compulsory transfers of officers between the two forces. Information about the officers who have chosen to transfer from Kent County Constabulary to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) between 1998–99 to 2002–03 is in Table 1. This information has been provided by the Acting Chief Constable (Mr. R. Ayling QPM). I am also told that during the last five years a total of 37 officers transferred from the MPS to Kent. At the end of August Kent County Constabulary had 3,520 officers, a record number and 260 more than in March 1997.
No information is collected centrally about the age of retiring police officers. Table 2 sets out the number of retirements as a whole for each year from 1998–99 to 2002–03 and, separately, shows the number of medical and ordinary retirements, from the Kent County Constabulary.
Details of vacancy levels in police forces for the last five years are not available centrally.
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Table 1: Transfers from Kent County Constabulary to Metropolitan Police Constable Sergeant Inspector Other Total 1998–99 — 2 — 1 3 1999–2000 1 — — — 1 2000–01 1 — — — 1 2001–02 4 1 — — 5 2002–03 13 6 4 1 24
Table 2: Retirements from Kent County Constabulary between 1998–99 and 2002–03 All ranks Medical retirements Ordinary retirements Total retirements 1998–99 16 80 96 1999–2000 18 84 102 2000–01 29 74 103 2001–02 38 101 139 2002–03 21 85 106