Fire Services: Manpower

Mr. Bone
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many firefighters there were per 100,000 residents in (a) Northamptonshire and (b) England (i) in 1997 and (ii) at the most recent date for which figures are available.

Mr. Khan
Information on the number of firefighters per 100,000 population in Northamptonshire and England is as follows.

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|                                                         |Northamptonshire|England|
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|1997-98                                                  |82              |92     |
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|2006-07                                                  |83              |89     |
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|Source:Annual returns to Communities and Local Government|                |       |
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