To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many volunteers have been (a) acting and (b) recruited as independent lay custody visitors in the Metropolitan Police Authority in each year since 2000. (286236)

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) advises that prior to 2006, individual boroughs managed independent custody visiting in their areas and that figures on recruitment are not centrally available. From April 2007, the MPA took pan-London responsibility for management of custody visitor and visit information. The authority has provided the following information:

As of December 2007 the MPA had 360 independent custody visitors of which 70 were new recruits during the year.

As of December 2008 there were 401 independent custody visitors of which 140 were new recruits during the year.