To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of how many more police officers will be on the beat in 1997 than (a) 1979 and (b) 1992. [10560]

On the basis of chief constables' estimates, by March 1997 there could be over 16,000 more police constables in England and Wales than there were in May 1979, and about 3,000 more than in March 1992.

I thank my right hon. Friend for that answer. Do not those figures demonstrate that the Conservative party has consistently supported a policy of getting more police officers back on the beat? Will he confirm that the Government intend to provide ever more funding for ever more police officers on the beat? Is it not true that, on law and order, the British people can trust only the Conservative party—unlike the Labour party, whose Front-Bench spokesman was this week so strongly supported by a fellow 1960s liberal?

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. We do not need to look at forecasts to see the record of the Labour party in power on police numbers. In 1979, the police force was 8,000 under establishment; now, we have 16,000 more constables, paid for and provided by the British taxpayer under a Conservative Government. We shall continue with our pledge to have 5,000 more police officers—I notice that the shadow Home Secretary has not acknowledged or promised to commit himself to that pledge.

Will the Minister remind the House how many police forces in England and Wales will have fewer officers on the beat in 1997 than in 1992? If he needs any help in answering that question, I can tell him that one of those police forces will be Cumbria constabulary, which covers his constituency and mine.

The hon. Gentleman is totally wrong on that, too. I have given the House the figures, which show that we have record numbers of constables, and they are constables for operational duty. Cumbria, too, has benefited from the increased funding provided for the 5,000 more officers promised by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister. A party that left the police force 8,000 under strength is in no moral position to quibble about the present record police numbers.