asked Her Majesty's Government:What is the recommended establishment by chief constables for policing their areas of responsibility; and what is the shortfall in each area. [HL942]
Ministers have no direct control over police numbers. Under legislation passed by the previous government in 1994 it is for individual chief constables to determine the number of police officers in their force within the resources that are available. At the end of September 1999 there were 125,464 police officers in England and Wales. The table sets out the numbers of officers in each force as at 30 September 1999.My right honourable Friend the Home Secretary announced on 9 February (House of Commons
Official Report, cols. 172–74W) the allocation of funding under the Crime Fighting Fund for the recruitment of 5,000 extra police officers over and above the number that would otherwise have been recruited over the next three years.
Police Numbers—Change between March 1999 and September 1999
| ||
Force
| Strength as at 30 September 1999
| Change since 31 March 1999
|
| Avon & Somerset | 2,988.7 | -11 |
| Bedfordshire | 1,048.4 | +7 |
| Cambridgeshire | 1,272.2 | -2 |
| Cheshire | 2,043.6 | -27 |
| City of London | 744.6 | -33 |
| Cleveland | 1,372.6 | -43 |
| Cumbria | 1,092.9 | -33 |
| Derbyshire | 1,763.6 | +5 |
| Devon & Cornwall | 2,861.1 | -26 |
| Dorset | 1,276.1 | -3 |
| Durham | 1,554.6 | -13 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 1,048.6 | +22 |
| Essex | 2,834.7 | -56 |
| Gloucestershire | 1,098 | -6 |
| Greater Manchester | 6,810.3 | No change |
| Gwent | 1,261.3 | +14 |
| Hampshire | 3,410.8 | -63 |
| Hertfordshire | 1,760 | +36 |
| Humberside | 1,926.2 | -48 |
| Kent | 3,256.7 | +56 |
| Lancashire | 3,221.4 | -23 |
| Leicestershire | 1,997.5 | +4 |
| Lincolnshire | 1,110.8 | -29 |
| Merseyside | 4,070.8 | -140 |
| Metropolitan Police | 25,884.5 | -188 |
| Norfolk | 1,381.5 | No change |
| Northamptonshire | 1,130 | -7 |
| Northumbria | 3,800.1 | -40 |
| North Wales | 1,399 | +8 |
| North Yorkshire | 1,293.7 | -43 |
| Nottinghamshire | 2,227 | +2 |
| South Wales | 2,983 | +2 |
| South Yorkshire | 3,165 | -3 |
| Staffordshire | 2,206 | -32 |
| Suffolk | 1,160 | -30 |
| Surrey | 1,721.1 | +59 |
| Sussex | 2,909.3 | +63 |
| Thames Valley | 3,749.5 | +1 |
| Warwickshire | 915.7 | +8 |
| West Mercia | 1,979.4 | -45 |
| West Midlands | 7,296.4 | -24 |
| West Yorkshire | 4,873 | -109 |
| Wiltshire | 1,150.2 | -1 |
| Force total strength | 123,050 | -791 |
| Seconded police officers | 2,414 | +159 |
| Total police service strength | 125,464 | -632 |
1Includes officers seconded to NCS, NCIS and central services such as National Police Training. | ||