---

15 Oct 2007 : Column 790W—continued

Police: Casualties

Mr. Jeremy Browne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of police officers have been injured in the line of duty in each police force area in each of the last 10 years. [156474]

Mr. McNulty: The numbers of assaults on police officers are available, and are published each year in the Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary (HMIC) Annual Report. The total numbers of assaults have
15 Oct 2007 : Column 791W
been given. The vast majority of these assaults are categorised as minor and no injury. The HMIC Annual Reports can be downloaded from the following link:

http://inspectorates.homeoffice.gov.uk/hmic/inspect_reports1/annual-reports/

15 Oct 2007 : Column 792W

The available data are for 1999-2000 to 2004-05 only, and have been given in the following table. The percentage of police officers injured in the line of duty cannot be accurately determined from the available data.

Assaults( 1) on police officers 1999-2000 to 2004-05( 2,3)
Force	1999-2000	2000-01	2001-02	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05
Avon and Somerset	405	332	336	366	493	296
Bedfordshire	97	125	94	74	117	106
Cambridgeshire	160	154	118	151	168	149
Cheshire	239	225	219	352	391	339
City of London	44	44	62	43	48	53
Cleveland	13	342	258	59	67	63
Cumbria	103	85	80	120	111	95
Derbyshire	278	232	241	290	230	228
Devon and Cornwall	311	224	256	326	318	333
Dorset	168	132	156	197	131	165
Durham	221	291	304	241	221	136
Dyfed-Powys	89	112	122	134	104	141
Essex	170	210	225	260	375	395
Gloucestershire	143	176	123	149	147	170
Greater Manchester(4)	941	975	874	935	—	1022
Gwent	205	191	340	181	209	178
Hampshire	385	374	177	502	543	408
Hertfordshire	160	159	169	194	171	185
Humberside	265	244	188	261	196	130
Kent	292	282	363	367	374	399
Lancashire(5)	294	318	296	331	462	521
Leicestershire	218	236	235	212	202	305
Lincolnshire	128	118	167	168	166	198
Merseyside	520	119	147	10	182	165
Metropolitan police(6)	1,391	—	1,438	1,898	2,349	2,614
Norfolk	294	354	171	226	182	208
Northamptonshire(7)	189	138	136	149	109	98
Northumbria	513	530	538	691	39	240
North Wales	104	106	111	91	96	111
North Yorkshire	104	118	111	125	240	279
Nottinghamshire	422	316	174	392	109	234
South Wales(8)	317	405	893	1,042	704	712
South Yorkshire	198	212	209	164	192	163
Staffordshire	429	207	179	146	119	158
Suffolk	129	127	170	161	185	195
Surrey	140	233	175	223	225	256
Sussex	402	397	284	186	330	416
Thames Valley	142	288	320	316	313	269
Warwickshire	142	151	156	204	250	256
West Mercia	373	264	252	245	227	206
West Midlands(9)	941	1,865	1,097	1,264	1,112	910
West Yorkshire	665	699	1,021	781	856	889
Wiltshire	108	146	112	137	165	124
(1) Data collated on behalf of and published by HMIC. Serious assaults are those for which the charge would be under Sections 18 and 20 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861. Other assaults include those with minor or no injury. Recording practices may vary over time and between forces. (2) Financial year runs 1 April to 31 March inclusive. (3 )HMIC did not publish a force breakdown of assaults prior to 1999-2000. HMIC have advised that assaults data will no longer be published in their Annual Report and that the data for 2004-05 is the last series of these data to be published. (4 )Greater Manchester was not able to provide data in 2003-04. (5) Lancashire was not able to provide breakdowns of numbers for different assaults in 2003-04 and 2004-05. (6) Metropolitan police was unable to provide data in 2000-01 and was unable to provide breakdowns of numbers for different assaults from 2001-02 to 2003-04. (7 )Northamptonshire was not able to separate serious and other assaults from 1999-2000 to 2002-03. (8) South Wales was not able to provide breakdowns of numbers for different assaults in 1999-2000. (9) West Midlands was not able to provide breakdowns of numbers for different assaults in 2003-04 and 2004-05.

---