Police: Manpower
Home Department
Hazel Blears (Salford and Eccles, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers in each police force hold positions classified as (a) operational, (b) operational support and (c) organisational support.
Nick Herbert (Minister of State, Justice; Arundel and South Downs, Conservative)
The most recent figures, on the numbers of officers in these three categories in each police force area in England and Wales as at
| Police officer strength( 1) as at 31 March 2010 by functional group( 2) | ||||
| Operational( 2) | Operational support( 2) | Organisational support( 3) | Total strength( 3) | |
| Avon and Somerset | 3,072 | 152 | 77 | 3,301 |
| Bedfordshire | 1,168 | 64 | 14 | 1,246 |
| Cambridgeshire | 1,289 | 89 | 93 | 1,471 |
| Cheshire | 1,840 | 247 | 68 | 2,155 |
| Cleveland | 1,342 | 298 | 84 | 1,724 |
| Cumbria | 1,176 | 44 | 18 | 1,238 |
| Derbyshire | 1,942 | 107 | 25 | 2,074 |
| Devon and Cornwall | 3,335 | 177 | 45 | 3,556 |
| Dorset | 1,276 | 196 | 15 | 1,486 |
| Durham | 1,358 | 82 | 67 | 1,507 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 1,081 | 70 | 44 | 1,195 |
| Essex | 3,479 | 107 | 20 | 3,606 |
| Gloucestershire | 1,168 | 135 | 6 | 1,309 |
| Greater Manchester | 7,153 | 825 | 170 | 8,148 |
| Gwent | 1,283 | 10 | 144 | 1,437 |
| Hampshire | 3,297 | 346 | 104 | 3,748 |
| Hertfordshire | 1,992 | 107 | 31 | 2,130 |
| Humberside | 1,856 | 140 | 61 | 2,058 |
| Kent | 3,424 | 263 | 100 | 3,787 |
| Lancashire | 3,293 | 282 | 74 | 3,649 |
| Leicestershire | 2,113 | 156 | 48 | 2,317 |
| Lincolnshire | 1,131 | 44 | 32 | 1,206 |
| London, City of | 814 | 19 | 20 | 852 |
| Merseyside | 4,029 | 342 | 146 | 4,516 |
| Metropolitan Police | 25,507 | 7,037 | 823 | 33,367 |
| Norfolk | 1,550 | 89 | 23 | 1,662 |
| Northamptonshire | 1,281 | 41 | 21 | 1,343 |
| Northumbria | 3,916 | 247 | 24 | 4,187 |
| North Wales | 1,430 | 121 | 39 | 1,590 |
| North Yorkshire | 1,371 | 89 | 26 | 1,486 |
| Nottinghamshire | 2,310 | 85 | 14 | 2,409 |
| South Wales | 2,798 | 290 | 60 | 3,148 |
| South Yorkshire | 2,782 | 82 | 89 | 2,953 |
| Staffordshire | 1,951 | 161 | 48 | 2,160 |
| Suffolk | 1,209 | 29 | 8 | 1,246 |
| Surrey | 1,723 | 76 | 91 | 1,890 |
| Sussex | 2,962 | 134 | 118 | 3,213 |
| Thames Valley | 3,760 | 432 | 242 | 4,434 |
| Warwickshire | 901 | 64 | 8 | 973 |
| West Mercia | 2,232 | 140 | 20 | 2,391 |
| West Midlands | 7,857 | 626 | 143 | 8,626 |
| West Yorkshire | 5,577 | 156 | 26 | 5,759 |
| Wiltshire | 1,008 | 149 | 24 | 1,181 |
| Total of all 43 forces in England and Wales | 126,035 | 14,347 | 3,352 | 143,734 |
| (1) Full-time equivalent figures that have been rounded to the nearest whole number. Because of rounding, there may be an apparent discrepancy between the totals and the sums of the constituent items. (2) Numbers of officers with predominant function in one of the three functional groups, which are defined (see below) according with how directly the officer's function is meeting the overarching aims of the police service. The functional group figures are not published, and should be treated as provisional as they have not been verified with police forces (unlike the total strength figures-see note 3 below). Operational: any member of staff, including covert staff, whose primary role (ie over 50% of their time) is directly to deliver the overarching aims of the police service. To 'directly deliver' the role must involve routine and immediate interface (either face to face or by telephone) with the public, including covert operational staff in such roles can be considered as frontline service providers. Operational support: any member of staff whose primary role is to support the delivery of the overarching aims of the police service. Organisational support: any member of staff whose primary role is to service the internal needs of the organisation. (3) The total strength figures have been verified with police forces, and are published in the Home Office statistical bulletin "Police Service Strength England and Wales, 31 March 2010", available online at: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs10/hosb1410.pdf Source: Home Office (from ADR 571 return received from police forces). | ||||