---

23 Feb 2005 : Column 726W—continued

Parliamentary Questions

Mr. Steen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to reply to the question tabled by the hon. Member for Totnes on 27 January, about the Holocaust Memorial Day Commemoration in Westminster Hall, ref. 212226. [216245]

Fiona Mactaggart [holding answer 21 February 2005]: I replied to the hon. Member on 8 February 2005, Official Report, column 1419W.

Police

Mr. Colman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether ethnic background is a factor taken into account when allocating training places to candidates who have been selected for the Metropolitan police. [215969]

Ms Blears: In allocating training places at Hendon, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) tries to ensure that as far as possible every course intake has a diverse range of recruits taking account of gender and ethnicity. This is in response to their commitment to build a work force which is more representative of the communities they serve.

Mr. John Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost of pension provision to the West Midlands police force was in each of the last 10 years; and what percentage of the total budget of the force this represented in each year. [210192]

Ms Blears [holding answer 24 January 2005]: The information is set out in the table.
 
23 Feb 2005 : Column 727W
 

	Net pensions expenditure (£000)	Proportion of net expenditure (percentage)
1995–96	34,304	10.4
1996–97	34,530	10.2
1997–98	44,073	12.2
1998–99	42,215	11.5
1999–2000	43,192	11.3
2000–01	47,209	12.0
2001–02	52,585	12.8
2002–03	54,220	13.0
2003–04	55,239	12.5
2004–05	58,094	12.6

Source:
Chartered Institute for Public Finance and Accountancy Police Statistics—actuals 1995–96 to 2002–03 and estimates 2003–04 and 2004–05.

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Departmentif he will place in the Library a table showing the percentage of officers of each rank above
 
23 Feb 2005 : Column 728W
 
inspector in each constabulary who are (a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities. [216935]

Ms Blears: A copy of a table showing the percentage of officers of each rank above inspector in each constabulary who are (a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities has been placed in the Library.

Mr. Cousins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) uniformed officers and (b) civilian staff there were in each police authority area in the North East region at (i) 31 March 2003 and (ii) 31 March 2004; and what these figures are per head of police authority population. [216489]

Ms Blears: The latest information on police service strength was published in Home Office Statistical Bulletin number 13/04, 'Police Service Strength England and Wales, 31 March 2004'.

The available information for the North East Region is given in the table:
Number

	Police officers		Police staff		Community support officers		Traffic wardens
	2003(19)	2004(19)	2003(19)	2004(19)	2003(19)	2004(19)	2003(19)	2004(19)
Cleveland	1,592	1,697	694	764	37	77	7	8
Durham	1,662	1,701	602	600	10	28	15	4
Northumbria	4,018	4,061	1,457	1,495	0	51	59	56
North East Region	7,272	7,459	2,754	2,859	47	155	81	68
Per 100,000 population
Cleveland	294	314	128	141	7	14	1	1
Durham	281	288	102	102	2	5	2	1
Northumbria	290	294	105	108	0	4	4	4
North East Region	289	297	109	114	2	6	3	3

⁽¹⁹⁾As at 31 March each year.

Mr. Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the amount of time senior police officers spent providing information for Government Regional Offices in the last year for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement. [203021]

Ms Blears: The information requested is not collected, nor is it possible to make any reliable estimate.

Home Office Regional Directors and their teams in the Government Offices for the Regions have an important part to play in helping to secure local delivery of the Government's objectives in respect of crime, substance misuse and community cohesion. This inevitably requires them to meet regularly with key partners in their areas including, of course, the police. I know that Government Offices do all they can to ensure that dialogue is productive, and bureaucracy kept to a minimum.

Police Finance

Mr. Willis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the percentage increase in precept was for each policy authority in England in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03 and (c) 2003–04. [211451]

Ms Blears [holding answer 27 January 2005]: The information is set out in the following table.
Annual percentage increase

	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04
Avon and Somerset	7.5	14.8	33.9
Bedfordshire	4.9	12.0	18.7
Cambridgeshire	8.9	39.0	19.8
Cheshire	5.9	13.7	19.8
Cleveland	6.0	38.3	25.1
Cumbria	7.6	10.9	30.1
Derbyshire	6.0	22.0	21.5
Devon and Cornwall	5.0	19.4	39.9
Dorset	9.3	12.2	19.2
Durham	7.2	14.2	23.5
Dyfed-Powys	6.4	7.9	26.5
Essex	4.5	9.4	19.7
Gloucestershire	5.2	14.6	51.7
Greater Manchester	3.1	6.5	33.1
Gwent	12.1	13.3	25.2
Hampshire	7.2	27.3	29.5
Hertfordshire	6.5	11.9	21.3
Humberside	42.2	11.2	18.5
Kent	8.1	22.2	28.9
Lancashire	8.5	8.8	18.6
Leicestershire	11.4	26.1	10.0
Lincolnshire	4.5	5.0	10.1
Merseyside	5.0	11.0	7.2
Metropolitan	30.7	9.9	21.9
Norfolk	16.0	20.0	21.5
Northamptonshire	4.2	26.8	23.6
Northumbria	6.9	4.5	9.7
North Wales	5.4	16.7	31.5
North Yorkshire	9.7	41.5	76.1
Nottinghamshire	7.7	21.4	28.3
South Wales	6.4	5.0	15.2
South Yorkshire	6.0	18.0	27.3
Staffordshire	13.1	7.0	25.3
Suffolk	9.9	22.3	33.2
Surrey	4.6	16.1	40.1
Sussex	6.5	18.1	39.9
Thames Valley	6.9	14.0	44.6
Warwickshire	9.8	19.5	15.2
West Mercia	6.0	33.1	14.6
West Midlands	4.5	8.2	15.0
West Yorkshire	3.6	24.8	17.0
Wiltshire	9.8	9.9	19.8

Source:
Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and National Assembly for Wales




 
23 Feb 2005 : Column 729W
 

Linda Gilroy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the financial settlement for the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority was in each year between 1995–06 and 2004–05. [212054]

Ms Blears [holding answer 31 January 2005]: The information is set out in the table.
£ million

	General government grants(20)	Specific grants and capital provision(21)	Total
1995–96	122.9	3.6	126.5
1996–97	129.3	2.7	132.0
1997–98	133.0	2.7	135.7
1998–99	141.1	4.0	145.1
1999–2000	146.7	2.5	149.2
2000–01	150.2	5.8	156.0
2001–02	156.9	15.4	172.3
2001–02(22)	152.8	15.4	168.2
2002–03	156.7	16.9	173.6
2003–04	161.5	17.6	179.1
2004–05	166.7	18.8	185.5

⁽²⁰⁾General government grants comprise Home Office police grant, ODPM revenue support grant and national non-domestic rates.
⁽²¹⁾Includes funding from the crime fighting fund, rural policing fund, basic command unit funding, community support officer funding, special priority payments, the DNA expansion programme, capital provision, Airwave and the premises improvement fund.
⁽²²⁾Figures for 2001–02 are not directly comparable with 2002–03 due to the change in funding arrangements of NCS/NCIS. Adjusted (lower) figures for 2001–02 are therefore included for future comparison.



 
23 Feb 2005 : Column 730W
 

---