To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what changes he plans to make to the numbers of police community support officers in (a) Essex, (b) Hampshire, (c) Kent, (d) Surrey, (e) East Sussex and (f) West Sussex; and if he will make a statement. (143351)

It is for Chief Constables to determine the deployment of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) within their force area. The following table gives the number of PCSOs that these forces were due to have by 30 April 2007 as their share of the national target—which the police service achieved—of 16,000 PCSOs. It is open to all forces, depending on local circumstances and resources, to increase the number of PCSOs further if they consider it appropriate to meet the neighbourhood policing needs of their communities, but there is no expectation on them to do so. The aim now is to have a dedicated neighbourhood policing team embedded into every area in England and Wales by April 2008.