Information on the number of police stations opened and closed in England and Wales has been collected centrally from police authorities via a yearly survey. Due to the changes in the use of police buildings it has proved to be difficult to obtain comprehensive information as to the number of police stations in use and of the number opening and closing in any year.
The information requested is as follows.
(a) Information on police numbers is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength, England and Wales.” The bulletins are available in the Library of the House, and can be downloaded from the publications link within the Research Development and Statistics directorate website located at:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/index.html
The available data are at the police force level and are given in the table.
(b) The management of the police estate and allocation of resources are matters for each police authority and the chief officer, who are responsible for assessing local needs. The Home Office does not have reliable data submitted by all forces on the total number of police stations.
Police force 31 March 19973 31 March 20014 31 March 20055 31 March 20065 Avon and Somerset 2,989 2,994 3,384 3,389 Bedfordshire 1,094 1,036 1,215 1,198 Cambridgeshire 1,302 1,296 1,402 1,430 Cheshire 2,046 2,002 2,186 2,174 Cleveland 1,459 1,407 1,676 1,677 Cumbria 1,144 1,048 1,232 1,230 Derbyshire 1,791 1,823 2,070 2,046 Devon and Cornwall 2,865 2,934 3,369 3,493 Dorset 1,284 1,354 1,450 1,485 Durham 1,461 1,595 1,718 1,699 Essex 2,961 2,897 3,190 3,279 Gloucestershire 1,133 1,173 1,291 1,289 Greater Manchester 6,922 6,909 8,041 7,959 Hampshire 3,452 3,438 3,725 3,707 Hertfordshire 1,759 1,922 2,104 2,126 Humberside 2,045 1,917 2,230 2,224 Kent 3,260 3,319 3,586 3,599 Lancashire 3,248 3,255 3.551 3,583 Leicestershire 1,949 2,032 2,283 2,250 Lincolnshire 1,196 1,202 1,221 1,213 London, City of 859 703 876 869 Merseyside 4,230 4,081 4,317 4,269 Metropolitan Police 26,677 24,878 30,710 30,536 Norfolk 1,432 1,420 1,544 1,557 Northamptonshire 1,177 1,157 1,267 1,317 Northumbria 3,677 3,857 4,048 3,983 North Yorkshire 1,338 1,305 1,543 1,636 Nottinghamshire 2,323 2,275 2,502 2,477 South Yorkshire 3,159 3,197 3,265 3,255 Staffordshire 2,211 2,129 2,280 2,272 Suffolk 1,174 1,133 1,313 1,300 Surrey 1,620 2,066 1,915 1,922 Sussex 3,085 2,855 3,044 3,092 Thames Valley 3,695 3,703 4,114 4,229 Warwickshire 926 926 1,011 1,032 West Mercia 2,040 1,951 2,367 2,351 West Midlands 7,113 7,423 8,056 8,097 West Yorkshire 5,209 4,815 5,631 5,644 Wiltshire 1,154 1,120 1,222 1,219 Dyfed-Powys 1,005 1,055 1,174 1,182 Gwent 1,243 1,274 1,438 1,467 North Wales 1,369 1,444 1,652 1,617 South Wales 2,976 3,154 3,281 3,263 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 excludes those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. 3 Boundary changes on 1 April 1996 transferred resources for the policing of the Rhmney Valley from South Wales police to Gwent police. 4 Boundary changes on 1 April 2000 transferred some resources from the Metropolitan police to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey police forces. 5 Comparable strength (excludes those on career breaks, or maternity/paternity leave). The Police Numbers Task Force (2001) recommended that a clear presentation was made of the numbers of staff employed by police forces including those seconded into the force and those on any type of long or short term absence. These new calculations were first used in 2003, and are not comparable with data prior to March 2003. The data from 2003 onwards used here are termed comparable because they have been calculated on the old basis to allow comparison.