To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community support officers (a) there were in 2002–03 and (b) there are in 2003–04 in each police authority in England and Wales. [130472]

Home Office funding enabled 27 police forces to recruit a total of 1,222 Community Support Officers (CSOs) by the end of 2002–03. There was a second opportunity to bid for funds earlier this year and the allocation from this will enable 36 forces to recruit a further 1,234 CSOs in 2003–04. The numbers recruited and deployed in the first year and allocated to forces in this year are as follows:

Police force	2002–03	2003–04
Avon and Somerset	12	30
Bedfordshire	0	12
Cambridgeshire	6	40
Cheshire	6	15
Cleveland	40	20
Devon and Cornwall	20	35
Dorset	7	0
Durham	10	25
Dyfed-Powys	0	5
Essex	10	45
Gloucestershire	0	30
Greater Manchester	160	25
Gwent	30	20

Police force	2002–03	2003–04
Hertfordshire	14	24
Kent	18	45
Lancashire	72	35
Leicestershire	28	17
Lincolnshire	32	10
Merseyside	40	60
Metropolitan police	499	250
Norfolk	12	18
Northamptonshire	12	0
North Wales	0	8
North Yorkshire	0	30
Northumbria	0	45
Nottinghamshire	10	35
South Wales	0	50
South Yorkshire	14	28
Staffordshire	0	10
Suffolk	0	15
Surrey	52	11
Sussex	22	40
Thames Valley	0	8
Warwickshire	11	13
West Mercia	10	30
West Midlands	0	40
West Yorkshire	60	100
Wiltshire	15	10
	1,222	1,234

128 of the CSOs allocated in round 2 are already trained and deployed and a further 77 are under training. In addition there are 174 non Home Office funded CSOs on the streets making a total of 1,601 CSOs in England and Wales.