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Police: South West

Volume 491: debated on Tuesday 21 April 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) police officers and (b) police community support officers there were in Avon and Somerset in each year since 1988; and if she will make a statement. (269296)

The available data are given in the tables.

Police officer strength (FTE)1 by police force as at 31 March 1977 to 31 March 20082

Avon and Somerset

FTE

1988

3,013

1989

3,014

1990

3,094

1991

3,092

1992

3,081

1993

3,068

1994

3,033

1995

3,000

1996

2,981

1997

2,989

1998

2,976

1999

2,999

2000

2,934

2001

2,994

2002

3,096

20033

3,149

20043

3,401

20053

3,384

20063

3,389

20073

3,375

20083

3,339

1 Full-time equivalent. All officers less staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave (comparable with previously published figures)

2 This and other tables contain 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.

3 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.

Police community support officer strength1 (FTE)2 by police force as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 20083

Avon and Somerset police force

FTE

2003

0

2004

45

20054

139

20064

130

20074

302

20084

377

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 exclude those on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.

3 Police community support officers were introduced in statute in 2002, therefore data are not available prior to 2002-03.

4 Strength figures as at 31 March 2005 onwards include those staff on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave. Therefore these figures are not comparable with those provided for other years in the table.