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Community Policing: Manpower

Volume 457: debated on Monday 5 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many community support officers were in post in each police authority in England and Wales in the last three years for which figures are available. (124216)

The available data are given in the table.

Police community support officer strength1 (FTE)2 by police force as at 30 September 2004 to 30 September 2006

Police force

30 September 2004

30 September 2005

30 September 2006

Avon and Somerset

82

146

182

Bedfordshire

26

43

47

Cambridgeshire

56

92

125

Cheshire

47

77

77

Cleveland

75

86

111

Cumbria

6

19

27

Derbyshire

0

43

56

Devon and Cornwall

57

75

158

Dorset

22

56

72

Durham

36

72

90

Essex

80

193

296

Gloucestershire

49

62

94

Greater Manchester

198

264

321

Hampshire

0

23

103

Hertfordshire

75

135

165

Humberside

0

20

112

Kent

58

103

100

Lancashire

115

159

224

Leicestershire

54

119

155

Lincolnshire

46

78

134

London, City of

0

14

8

Merseyside

90

161

214

Metropolitan Police

1,810

2,053

2,681

Norfolk

55

67

102

Northamptonshire

27

38

62

Northumbria

51

143

164

North Yorkshire

46

69

85

Nottinghamshire

69

112

155

South Yorkshire

57

125

126

Staffordshire

13

62

103

Suffolk

15

33

46

Surrey

77

102

161

Sussex

183

231

274

Thames Valley

7

109

134

Warwickshire

43

56

61

West Mercia

67

86

170

West Midlands

40

247

348

West Yorkshire

264

433

505

Wiltshire

28

38

85

Dyfed-Powys

4

24

30

Gwent

26

81

97

North Wales

5

61

76

South Wales

65

116

181

Total England and Wales

4,125

6,323

8,517

1 This table contains full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between totals and the sums of the constituent items.

2 Full-time equivalent includes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.