17.
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will make a further statement about recruitment for the Metropolitan Police.
28.
asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are the latest figures available for recruitment into the police forces; if he will publish in the Official Report details of the number of officers in the various forces; how far these fall short of the establishments; and what further steps he is taking to stimulate police recruitment.
The number of recruits into police forces in England and Wales for the first four months of this year was 2,823. The figure for the Metropolitan Police was 410. Despite wastage the police service, outside London, has slightly increased in strength so far this year. I regret to say, however, that the Metropolitan Police continues to suffer a net loss.The following are the strength and establishment figures for individual forces.
Force
| Authorised Establishment
| Strength for Ordinary Duty
| Deficiency
| ||
| Hertfordshire | … | … | 1,483 | 1,471 | 12 or 0·80 per cent. |
| Humberside | … | … | 1,939 | 1,786 | 153 or 7·89 per cent. |
| Kent | … | … | 2,703 | 2,655 | 48 or 1·77 per cent. |
| Lancashire | … | … | 3,080 | 3,040 | 40 or 1·29 per cent. |
| Leicestershire | … | … | 1,705 | 1,631 | 74 or 4·34 per cent. |
| Lincolnshire | … | … | 1,182 | 1,139 | 43 or 3·63 per cent. |
| Merseyside | … | … | 4,451 | 4,235 | 216 or 4·85 per cent. |
| Norfolk | … | … | 1,264 | 1,214 | 50 or 3·95 per cent. |
| Northamptonshire | … | … | 950 | 876 | 74 or 7·78 per cent. |
| Northumbria | … | … | 3,322 | 3,172 | 150 or 4·51 per cent. |
| North Wales | … | … | 1,276 | 1,240 | 36 or 2·82 per cent. |
| North Yorkshire | … | … | 1,328 | 1,269 | 59 or 4·44 per cent. |
| Nottinghamshire | … | … | 2,144 | 2.064 | 80 or 3·73 per ecnt. |
| South Wales | … | … | 3,069 | 2,870 | 199 or 6·48 per cent. |
| South Yorkshire | … | … | 2,752 | 2,500 | 252 or 9·15 per cent. |
| Staffordshire | … | … | 2,066 | 1,941 | 125 or 6·05 per cent. |
| Suffolk | … | … | 1,087 | 1,010 | 77 or 7·08 per cent. |
| Surrey | … | … | 1,503 | 1,457 | 46 or 3·06 per cent. |
| Sussex | … | … | 2,799 | 2,648 | 151 or 5·39 per cent. |
| Thames Valley | … | … | 2,996 | 2,651 | 345 or 11·51 per cent. |
| Warwickshire | … | … | 876 | 849 | 27 or 3·08 per cent. |
| West Mercia | … | … | 1,671 | 1,620 | 51 or 3·05 per cent. |
| West Midlands | … | … | 6,509 | 5,748 | 761 or 11·69 per cent. |
| West Yorkshire | … | … | 5,104 | 4,588 | 516 or 10·10 per cent. |
| Wiltshire | … | … | 995 | 962 | 33 or 3·31 per cent. |
| City of London | … | … | 1,022 | 821 | 201 or 19·66 per cent. |
| Metropolitan | … | … | 26,628 | 21,859 | 4,769 or 17·90 per cent. |