The information requested is as follows:
(a) The available data, based on mid year estimates from the Office for National Statistics, are given in Table 1 placed in the House Libraries.
(b), (c) Authorised establishments were abolished by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994. It is a matter for each chief constable in consultation with the police authority to determine the number of police officers a force would have. Information on police service strength is published annually in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin series “Police Service Strength, England and Wales” and details for officers are given in Table 2 placed in the House Libraries.
(d) The arrests collection undertaken by the Ministry of Justice provides data on persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences) only. The available information is given in the Table 3, placed in the House Libraries, by police force area, from 1999-2000 (previous years data are unreliable) to 2005-06 (latest available).
(e) Information on arrests rates is not collected centrally and, from the information available centrally, arrests rates cannot be computed with any accuracy. Numbers of arrests are only collected by the Ministry of Justice on a recorded crime (notifiable offences) basis and from the Home Office data on numbers of police officers; one does not know the duties to which they have been assigned.
(f), (g), (h), (i) The available data are given in Tables 4, 5 and 6, placed in the House Libraries.
[holding answer 18 February 2008]: The information requested cannot be calculated from the centrally collected data within the police personnel statistics series. Length of service data are only collected in a number of fixed time bands and are set out in the following table.
Percentage Up to 5 years 5-10 years 10-15 years 15-20 years 20-25 years 26-30 years 30-35 years1 35 years and over1 Kent 29 19 16 16 9 9 1 0 Metropolitan police 29 18 12 14 12 12 2 0 Surrey2 — — — — — — — — Sussex 32 17 15 16 11 8 1 0 England and Wales 28 18 14 15 12 11 2 0 1 Police officers are eligible for retirement after 30 years service. 2 Data for Surrey are not available.