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Police: Manpower

Volume 470: debated on Tuesday 8 January 2008

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers worked in each London borough in the latest period for which figures are available, broken down by (a) ethnicity, (b) age and (c) sex. (167415)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many police community support officers were employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since they were introduced; (174756)

(2) how many (a) police sergeants, (b) special constables and (c) traffic police officers were employed in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) England in each year since 1997;

(3) how many police officers were employed in (a) Jarrow constituency, (b) South Tyneside, (c) the North East and (d) England in each year since 1997.

The available information is given in the following tables. Statistics for Jarrow constituency are not available centrally and figures for South Tyneside relate to the South Tyneside basic command unit.

Number of police officers and staff in South Tyneside, North-East region and England: 1997 to 2007

Table A: South Tyneside basic command unit (BCU)

Police officers (FTE)1

Police sergeants (FTE)

Special constables (HC)

Traffic police officers (FTE)

Police community support officers (FTE)1,2

31 March 2005

346

26

30 June 2005

13

31 March 2006

352

25

30 June 2006

12

31 March 2007

362

23

25

Table B: North East Region

Police officers (FTE)1,3

Police sergeants (FTE)1,3

Special constables (HC)4

Traffic police officers (FTE)1,5

Police community support officers (FTE)1

31 March 1997

6,597

952

877

31 March 1998

6,767

966

708

31 March 1999

6,824

955

627

31 March 2000

6,750

942

617

31 March 2001

6,859

937

539

31 March 2002

7,004

959

475

31 March 2003

7,272

990

417

47

31 March 2004

7,459

1,004

335

156

31 March 2005

7,515

1,045

397

275

270

31 March 2006

7,485

1,084

445

333

296

31 March 2007

7,425

1,097

487

344

504

Table C: England

Police officers (FTE)1,6

Police sergeants (FTE)1,3

Special constables (HC)4

Traffic police officers (FTE)1,5

Police community support officers (FTE)1

31 March 1997

118,459

17,743

18,732

31 March 1998

118,184

17,585

17,159

31 March 1999

117,196

17,715

15,396

31 March 2000

115,323

17,438

13,512

31 March 2001

116,440

17,489

11,949

31 March 2002

120,074

17,518

10,897

31 March 2003

124,158

17,664

10,449

1,146

31 March 2004

129,691

17,868

10,359

3,309

31 March 2005

131,950

19,220

11,285

6,548

5,946

31 March 2006

132,104

19,946

12,431

5,942

6,498

31 March 2007

132,474

20,736

13,221

5,832

12,856

‘—’ Figures not collected centrally.

1 Full-time equivalents, rounded to the nearest whole number.

2 Figures for PCSOs at ECU level for 30 June 2005 and 30 June 2006 were obtained via an ad hoc collection, and are not necessarily consistent with those for 30 March 2007.

3 Excludes officers on career breaks and maternity/paternity leave prior to 2003 only.

4 Head count figures (FTE figures not appropriate for special constables).

5 Number of officers with the predominant function ‘traffic’ over the previous 12 months.

6 Excludes officers on career breaks and maternity/paternity leave over whole period.