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15 Dec 2004 : Column 1183W—continued

Police Numbers

Mr. Crausby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the percentage change in full-time police officers in Bolton, North-East has been since 1997. [203375]

Ms Blears: The Bolton, North-East constituency is part of the Bolton Basic Command Unit (BCU) of the Greater Manchester Police. Information on strength at BCU level is collected annually and reflects the position at the end of March. Information on BCU strength is only available from 2002 and is collected on a full-time equivalent basis. BCU strength is set out in the following table. It is not possible to provide police numbers at constituency level.
 
15 Dec 2004 : Column 1184W
 

Bolton Basic Command Unit

Year (as at 31 March)	Number of police officers	Percentage change
2002	517	—
2003	526	+1.7
2004	551	+4.8

The deployment of officers to BCUs is a matter for the Chief Constable (Michael Todd QPM) and within the Bolton BCU deployment of officers is a matter for the Divisional Commander.

Press Officers

Dr. Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many press officers the Department has employed in each of the past five years. [201044]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 30 November 2004]: Press officers within the Home Office are employed at the Information Officer (IO) and Senior Information Officer (SIO) grades.

Press Office numbers in each of the past five years are outlined as follows:

	Number
1999–2000	16
2000–01	(23)31
2001–02	(24)35
2002–03	39
2003–04	39

⁽²³⁾ Expansion of the Home Office press office followed an external consultant's review of its staffing and operation in 1999 and recommended the creation of the Newsdesk so as to better meet the demands of the media. This improved efficiency from 'losing' in excess of 20 per cent. of the calls pre expansion, to a positive where from June 2003 to June 2004 91.8 per cent. of 61,070 calls received by the newsdesk were answered.
⁽²⁴⁾ The Home Office press office and the prison service press office merged in May 2001.

In 2003–04 the Press Office newsdesk answered 60,039 calls, Press Office issued 583 press notices and held 29 briefings for the media.

The £1.9 million cost for 2003–04 on Press Officers is 0.094 per cent. of the overall Home Office salary bill (£2,016,593,000—Home Office Departmental Report 2003–04).

Tetra

Mr. Tyrie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the locations of Tetra base stations operational in the region covered by the Sussex Police Force. [202903]

Caroline Flint: O2 Airwave is responsible for providing the infrastructure for Airwave, the new police radio system. The positioning of base stations for Airwave is a matter for O2 Airwave to decide on, having
 
15 Dec 2004 : Column 1185W
 
regard to the need to provide the coverage required by the police. Airwave base stations are listed in Ofcom's Sitefinder database which is available to the public via Ofcom's website.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research he has evaluated on the possible effects of Tetra mast signals on (a) breathalysers, (b) speed cameras, (c) lawnmowers, (d) computers and (e) pacemakers. [203116]

Caroline Flint: We have evaluated the possible effects of Tetra technology on speed cameras and breathalysers, and the Association of Chief Police Officers has re-issued its guidance to forces on the use of these devices to take into account the change to Tetra technology handsets and vehicle mounted radios. All electrical devices are required to comply with the relevant European Directives on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

Traffic Police

Mr. Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many traffic police are operating in Essex; and how many there were in 1997. [204359]

 
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Ms Blears [holding answer 13 December 2004]: Published information on police strength by police force area is available for rank, gender and ethnicity but not by function.

Figures on police strength for March 2004 were published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin 13/04, copies of which are available in the Library or on the internet site: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hosbpubs1.html.

Vehicle Crime

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) reported thefts and (b) convictions for theft (i) of motor cars, (ii) of motorcycles, (iii) of motorcycle parts and (iv) from vehicles there were in each police authority in each of the last five years. [202284]

Ms Blears: Information on thefts of motorcycles and motorcycle parts is not collected separately. The available information relates to thefts of and from a vehicle and is provided in the tables.

Data from the recorded crime series relate to the number of offences recorded by the police. Data on convictions relate to the number of offenders. For this reason, the two sets of data are not comparable.
Table 3: Number of offenders found guilty at all courts for "theft of" and "theft from" a motor vehicle ⁽²⁵⁾ by police force area—England and Wales 1999 to 2003

	1999		2000		2001
Police force area	Theft of a motor vehicle(26)	Theft from a motor vehicle	Theft of a motor vehicle(26)	Theft from a motor vehicle	Theft of a motor vehicle(26)	Theft from a motor vehicle
Avon and Somerset	193	73	164	42	181	19
Bedfordshire	136	50	135	66	112	61
Cambridgeshire	96	42	90	43	70	60
Cheshire	120	68	104	13	88	4
Cleveland	113	53	104	38	121	43
Cumbria	56	12	64	13	49	11
Derbyshire	97	119	88	107	98	126
Devon and Cornwall	137	27	82	22	103	14
Dorset	60	79	52	67	42	44
Durham	120	21	98	21	75	14
Essex	188	111	201	134	214	124
Gloucestershire	60	62	49	44	55	64
Greater Manchester	756	102	722	77	726	89
Hampshire	229	196	201	168	219	140
Hertfordshire	102	82	91	97	90	87
Humberside	164	109	114	91	110	86
Kent	225	163	235	116	226	68
Lancashire	270	320	269	257	226	253
Leicestershire	151	134	107	140	134	117
Lincolnshire	84	14	54	13	37	6
Merseyside	283	125	273	172	300	110
Metropolitan Police(28)	1,431	619	1,392	514	1,453	510
Norfolk	75	34	77	15	49	11
Northamptonshire	88	20	83	33	66	45
Northumbria	131	113	97	84	26	77
North Yorkshire	258	257	236	213	201	182
Nottinghamshire	166	139	156	134	154	119
South Yorkshire	319	189	247	166	196	164
Staffordshire(27)	159	84	87	86	119	92
Suffolk	172	14	93	16	89	6
Surrey	59	39	51	30	60	23
Sussex	128	118	126	83	130	94
Thames Valley	165	38	228	33	252	28
Warwickshire	49	27	46	12	49	23
West Mercia	142	119	150	96	116	106
West Midlands	639	233	592	216	620	169
West Yorkshire	489	388	438	333	449	339
Wiltshire	52	17	43	9	44	6
Dyfed Powys	41	10	34	24	43	21
Gwent	84	13	82	17	91	10
North Wales	97	71	84	48	78	40
South Wales	348	68	300	57	286	45
England and Wales	8,732	4,572	7,939	3,960	7,847	3,650

 
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	2002		2003
	Theft of a motor vehicle(26)	Theft from a motor vehicle	Theft of a motor vehicle(26)	Theft from a motor vehicle
Avon and Somerset	220	49	166	53
Bedfordshire	90	72	79	77
Cambridgeshire	99	54	102	62
Cheshire	120	8	91	16
Cleveland	175	44	132	29
Cumbria	53	18	41	16
Derbyshire	97	105	90	90
Devon and Cornwall	106	14	107	12
Dorset	43	60	39	60
Durham	66	5	63	8
Essex	241	97	240	78
Gloucestershire	62	50	62	41
Greater Manchester	529	103	508	142
Hampshire	238	149	166	148
Hertfordshire	153	87	107	87
Humberside	137	92	143	79
Kent	220	64	200	93
Lancashire	248	280	204	201
Leicestershire	144	132	119	122
Lincolnshire	48	12	50	16
Merseyside	275	116	297	141
Metropolitan Police(28)	1,504	500	1,208	458
Norfolk	47	15	33	16
Northamptonshire	40	43	66	59
Northumbria	22	38	158	194
North Yorkshire	186	197	71	52
Nottinghamshire	140	108	178	125
South Yorkshire	241	161	251	164
Staffordshire(27)	136	110	145	118
Suffolk	127	11	161	11
Surrey	41	23	63	19
Sussex	104	99	154	59
Thames Valley	222	53	192	91
Warwickshire	43	15	39	18
West Mercia	134	118	109	120
West Midlands	668	296	764	303
West Yorkshire	558	270	386	283
Wiltshire	48	7	40	11
Dyfed Powys	39	23	62	15
Gwent	93	13	91	14
North Wales	83	31	66	46
South Wales	335	55	288	36
England and Wales	8,175	3,797	7,531	3,783

⁽²⁵⁾ These data are on the principal offence basis.
⁽²⁶⁾ Includes the offence of 'Being carried knowing vehicle to have been taken or driven away'.
⁽²⁷⁾ Staffordshire police were only able to supply a sample of data for magistrates' courts proceedings covering one full week in each quarter of 2000. Estimates based on this sample are included in the figures, as they are considered sufficiently robust at this level of analysis.
⁽²⁸⁾ Includes City of London





 
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Table 1: Vehicle crime offences recorded by the police 1999–2000 to 2001–02

	Theft of a vehicle			Theft from a vehicle
Police force area and region	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02
Cleveland	4,402	4,536	4,797	8,628	9,130	9,454
Durham	3,605	2,951	2,712	5,521	5,096	5,086
Northumbria	10,395	8,693	7,837	15,804	13,662	12,573
North East Region	18,402	16,180	15,346	29,953	27,888	27,113
Cheshire	4,594	4,665	4,625	7,582	7,588	8,820
Cumbria	1,373	1,150	1,115	4,041	3,126	3,368
Greater Manchester	42,493	37,264	31,969	45,439	43,328	42,806
Lancashire	6,504	6,151	6,154	14,308	14,202	14,861
Merseyside	16,775	16,157	15,081	16,960	14,220	14,901
North West Region	71,739	65,387	58,944	88,330	82,464	84,756
Humberside	6,812	6,033	6,501	15,068	13,382	14,843
North Yorkshire	2,622	2,502	2,349	5,974	5,083	5,822
South Yorkshire	11,918	8,939	8,294	17,605	17,470	20,427
West Yorkshire	21,197	20,171	23,765	37,101	37,817	41,671
Yorkshire and the Humber Region	42,549	37,645	40,909	75,748	73,752	82,763
Derbyshire	5,472	4,177	3,832	12,649	11,560	12,471
Leicestershire	6,052	4,734	4,604	12,888	11,466	11,749
Lincolnshire	1,998	1,797	1,885	4,873	4,830	4,897
Northamptonshire	3,921	3,722	3,758	8,334	7,718	7,577
Nottinghamshire	7,035	7,135	7,714	17,681	18,474	20,818
East Midlands Region	24,478	21,565	21,793	56,425	54,048	57,512
Staffordshire	6,003	5,484	5,637	11,598	10,587	12,314
Warwickshire	2,519	2,246	2,118	6,102	5,184	5,899
West Mercia	4,690	4,079	3,336	11,053	9,139	9,725
West Midlands	33,230	27,753	25,385	43,801	39,594	38,239
West Midlands Region	46,442	39,562	36,476	72,554	64,504	66,177
Bedfordshire	4,531	4,114	3,873	9,911	8,478	8,852
Cambridgeshire	3,596	2,975	2,941	8,847	8,373	9,804
Essex	7,174	6,826	7,505	13,255	12,921	13,356
Hertfordshire	3,452	3,796	3,810	9,126	11,094	10,453
Norfolk	2,983	2,280	1,888	7,445	7,543	7,909
Suffolk	1,742	1,765	1,693	4,759	4,526	5,222
Eastern Region	23,478	21,756	21,710	53,343	52,935	55,596
London, City of	212	252	380	399	412	511
Metropolitan Police	62,791	62,462	62,112	112,206	105,701	112,146
London Region	63,003	62,714	62,492	112,605	106,113	112,657
Hampshire	7,159	6,370	6,506	16,204	15,812	15,353
Kent	8,248	8,261	7,237	14,217	15,476	13,361
Surrey	2,091	2,995	2,881	5,364	6,835	6,513
Sussex	7,721	6,940	5,442	17,419	16,851	15,798
Thames Valley	14,492	11,479	10,255	35,972	31,377	31,525
South East Region	39,711	36,045	32,321	89,176	86,351	82,550
Avon and Somerset	10,953	10,430	12,181	23,458	21,918	28,610
Devon and Cornwall	4,366	3,807	3,392	17,072	16,338	14,157
Dorset	2,998	2,609	2,499	8,429	7,049	7,310
Gloucestershire	2,531	1,893	1,828	7,713	6,571	6,312
Wiltshire	1,615	1,346	1,267	4,983	3,925	3,997
South West Region	22,463	20,085	21,167	61,655	55,801	60,386
Dyfed-Powys	868	861	841	1,335	1,259	1,209
Gwent	3,393	3,074	2,610	5,714	5,035	4,406
North Wales	2,310	1,903	1,949	5,191	5,283	5,712
South Wales	15,850	12,019	11,557	17,203	14,218	14,324
Wales	22,421	17,857	16,957	29,443	25,795	25,651
England and Wales	374,686	338,796	328,115	669,232	629,651	655,161

Note:
The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.





Table 2: Vehicle crime offences recorded by the police 2002–03 and 2003–04

	Theft of a vehicle		Theft from a vehicle
Police force area and region	2002–03	2003–04	2002–03	2003–04
Cleveland	4,468	4,463	9,826	8,030
Durham	2,423	2,369	5,023	4,704
Northumbria	6,981	6,445	13,283	11,644
North East Region	13,872	13,277	28,132	24,378
Cheshire	4,503	3,994	9,400	8,850
Cumbria	1,244	1,060	3,509	3,054
Greater Manchester	26,252	21,870	41,022	37,414
Lancashire	5,585	5,231	13,289	11,468
Merseyside	13,081	11,403	14,973	14,961
North West Region	50,665	43,558	82,193	75,747
Humberside	7,607	7,619	14,881	13,810
North Yorkshire	2,623	2,672	6,947	6,844
South Yorkshire	10,241	9,621	20,948	19,573
West Yorkshire	22,867	19,473	41,340	36,287
Yorkshire and the Humber Region	43,338	39,385	84,116	76,514
Derbyshire	4,062	3,571	12,730	10,787
Leicestershire	4,576	3,986	11,410	10,030
Lincolnshire	2,101	1,932	5,756	4,571
Northamptonshire	3,817	3,642	8,051	9,069
Nottinghamshire	8,782	8,014	22,227	20,303
East Midlands Region	23,338	21,145	60,174	54,760
Staffordshire	4,463	4,209	10,094	9,576
Warwickshire	2,282	2,125	6,195	5,131
West Mercia	3,371	3,432	9,705	8,702
West Midlands	23,598	23,217	37,240	33,894
West Midlands Region	33,714	32,983	63,234	57,303
Bedfordshire	3,111	2,834	8,323	7,337
Cambridgeshire	3,638	3,307	9,707	7,365
Essex	7,664	7,283	13,906	13,757
Hertfordshire	4,287	4,323	12,315	11,916
Norfolk	2,288	2,173	8,451	6,223
Suffolk	1,606	1,459	4,676	4,323
Eastern Region	22,594	21,379	57,378	50,921
London, City of	334	226	360	357
Metropolitan Police	58,405	55,158	114,987	103,899
London Region	58,739	55,384	115,347	104,256
Hampshire	6,278	5,822	15,985	14,947
Kent	7,138	6,749	13,676	12,492
Surrey	3,110	2,947	6,879	6,973
Sussex	5,992	5,313	15,116	13,463
Thames Valley	9,111	8,753	28,518	26,710
South East Region	31,629	29,584	80,174	74,585
Avon and Somerset	11,983	8,705	24,266	20,303
Devon and Cornwall	3,907	3,396	15,470	13,205
Dorset	2,276	2,199	7,141	6,404
Gloucestershire	1,977	2,264	5,763	6,143
Wiltshire	1,308	1,265	4,243	4,185
South West Region	21,451	17,829	56,883	50,240
Dyfed-Powys	833	795	1,195	1,530
Gwent	3,046	3,507	5,286	5,416
North Wales	2,087	2,038	6,005	5,575
South Wales	11,844	9,793	18,579	17,289
Wales	17,810	16,133	31,065	29,810
England and Wales	317,150	290,657	658,696	598,514

Note:
The data in this table take account of the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard in April 2002. These figures are not directly comparable with those for earlier years.




 
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