To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average number of crimes solved by each police officer was in England in 2007-08. (254691)

There were 1,373,933 recorded crimes detected by the police in 2007-08. There were 144,939 full time equivalent police officers as at 31 March 2008. Figures include the 43 police forces of England and Wales plus the British Transport Police.

On this basis, there were 9.5 detections per officer in 2007-08, although the real figure is likely to be much higher. This is because many officers are deployed on functions other than crime solving, and the detection total does not include non-notifiable crimes: that is, almost all summary offences.