To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how he proposes to implement and monitor the recruitment of 5,000 additional police officers; [4031](2) what steps he intends to take to ensure that chief constables do not use their share of the cash for recruiting additional police officers for normal recruiting to replace wastage, or for other purposes. [4026]

[holding answer 5 December 1995]: The Government are providing sufficient funding to allow an additional 5,000 police officers to be recruited over the next three financial years. The additional funding is to be allocated separately to police forces. Her Majesty's inspectorate of constabulary will introduce a mechanism to monitor the use by forces of the extra funding.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his latest estimate of the average total annual cost of employing (a) a police officer for a year and (b) an additional police constable and what is the average cost of employing a new recruit to the police service including the cost of training and other costs during the first full year of employment. [4027]

[holding answer 5 December 1995]: The most recent estimate of the average total annual cost of employing a police officer is £42,000. The figure was calculated on the basis of total expenditure and total police strength of provincial forces in England and Wales.Data on the average annual cost of employing a police constable are not collected centrally.The estimated average costs of employing an additional probationer constable in 1996–97 are shown in the table: