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9 Jan 2008 : Column 540W—continued


Police: Retirement

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of police officers who will retire in each of the next five years. [176070]

Mr. McNulty: The requested information can be estimated from the centrally collected data within the police personnel statistics series.

Police officers are eligible for retirement with an ordinary pension after 25 years of service. An ordinary pension is payable from age 50 unless the officer has completed 30 years of service, in which case he or she may retire with an immediate pension even if under the age of 50. Data for the number of police officers with 25 to 26 years, 26 to 27 years, 27 to 28 years, 28 to 29 years and 29 to 30 years of service are available.

Officers with less than 25 years of service may retire with an immediate pension between the ages of 55 and 60, depending on their rank and police force. Data for the number of police officers over the age of 55 are available.


9 Jan 2008 : Column 541W

We estimate that between 4,000 and 5,000 officers will retire with an ordinary, short-service or ill-health pension in each of the next five years.

Police: Standards

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of calls were met within the target time adopted by the Metropolitan Police in each of the last three years, broken down by borough. [176071]

Mr. McNulty: The information requested on emergency call handling is published in the Annual Reports of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC). The data are available at the force level only, although the City of London’s emergency calls are also dealt with by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). The MPS has adopted a target time of 15 seconds for responding to 999 calls.

The latest available data refer to the 2004-05 financial year, and can be found in Figure 8 of the HMIC Annual Report 2004-05. This publication is available via the Home Office website at


9 Jan 2008 : Column 542W

In 2004-05 86.4 per cent of calls were responded to within the MRS target time, in 2003-04 87.9 per cent were responded to and in 2002-03 the figure was 82.3 per cent.

Prosecutions: Driving Offences

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) successful prosecutions, (b) cautions and (c) fixed-penalty notices there have been in relation to uninsured drivers (i) in total and (ii) in each police force area in each of the last 10 years; and what the average penalty was in each category. [176297]

Mr. Coaker: Available information taken from the Court Proceedings Database held by the Ministry of Justice for the offence of ‘using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks’, from 1997-2005 (latest available) is provided in the tables.

2006 data will be available later this year.


9 Jan 2008 : Column 543W

9 Jan 2008 : Column 544W
Proceedings at magistrates courts for the offence of using a motor vehicle uninsured against third party risks( 1) , and average fine imposed( 2) by police force area, England and Wales, 1997-2004
Number of offences
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001
Police force area Findings of guilt Average fine (£) Findings of guilt Average fine (£) Findings of guilt Average fine (£) Findings of guilt Average fine (£) Findings of guilt Average fine (£)

Avon and Somerset

9,424

259

9,875

204

9,357

165

9,578

182

8,455

130

Bedfordshire

2,951

314

2,992

293

2,328

274

2,323

226

2,916

164

Cambridgeshire

2,394

221

2,507

209

2,233

215

2,226

182

1,989

119

Cheshire

3,499

274

3,658

248

3,872

237

4,110

211

3,927

149

Cleveland

2,798

162

2,908

167

3,027

170

3,597

179

3,643

167

Cumbria

3,089

150

2,866

171

2,772

220

2,699

265

2,906

152

Derbyshire

3,830

270

3,522

279

3,613

283

3,945

296

4,261

337

Devon and Cornwall

4,967

184

4,263

185

4,681

178

5,890

179

5,742

133

Dorset

3,458

295

2,777

302

3,013

301

3,548

261

2,986

121

Durham

2,912

181

3,086

177

4,475

194

4,338

160

4,361

118

Essex

4,507

174

4,635

149

5,035

140

5,356

123

5,417

101

Gloucestershire

2,114

154

2,885

202

2,867

247

2,548

240

2,692

91

Greater Manchester

20,548

245

21,430

226

23,696

236

24,020

232

26,600

152

Hampshire

7,844

132

8,028

135

8,123

138

7,578

136

7,677

119

Hertfordshire

2,573

193

3,056

164

2,789

173

3,332

204

3,691

155

Humberside

3,479

159

3,501

148

3,920

143

4,065

137

3,657

122

Kent

4,754

246

4,808

241

4,232

227

6,431

271

7,063

209

Lancashire

11,577

332

11,198

296

10,800

237

11,054

219

9,812

111

Leicestershire

5,990

318

6,265

318

7,281

276

6,752

254

6,849

134

Lincolnshire

3,001

159

3,466

197

3,744

209

3,321

188

2,970

133

London, City of

1,382

332

1,431

314

1,141

346

777

375

1,021

369

Merseyside

8,432

200

7,694

203

6,920

200

7,813

207

7,794

163

Metropolitan Police

25,866

202

22,874

185

20,893

184

20,247

169

22,677

139

Norfolk

3,456

242

3,060

256

3,000

265

2,851

210

3,040

99

Northamptonshire

3,083

243

3,271

286

4,151

310

2,998

280

1,643

280

Northumbria

8,064

136

8,079

146

9,299

148

9,430

144

9,251

130

North Yorkshire

2,778

249

2,538

236

2,656

230

2,572

211

2,216

130

Nottinghamshire

6,149

164

6,658

165

6,156

153

6,082

150

6,261

152

South Yorkshire

7,342

194

7,831

206

8,424

191

8,956

170

10,163

128

Staffordshire

5,251

251

5,379

228

5,725

234

6,760

198

4,723

152

Suffolk

2,202

193

2,283

192

2,547

192

2,330

183

2,387

128

Surrey

2,439

243

2,051

242

2,278

215

2,577

218

2,826

201

Sussex

4,726

218

4,150

186

4,198

181

3,808

167

4,016

118

Thames Valley

6,258

292

6,311

257

7,291

268

7,456

250

7,128

134

Warwickshire

2,595

228

2,394

175

2,192

177

2,316

188

2,672

156

West Mercia

4,848

268

5,624

282

5,224

282

5,542

263

5,766

176

West Midlands

18,484

207

18,969

190

16,407

189

18,010

201

18,221

169

West Yorkshire

15,041

255

14,682

242

15,903

242

15,649

209

15,934

120

Wiltshire

2,310

152

2,712

182

2,558

186

2,625

204

3,281

283

Dyfed-Powys

1,953

183

1,952

182

2,044

175

2,076

169

1,914

155

Gwent

2,899

253

3,344

225

3,452

225

3,808

208

3,836

148

North Wales

3,280

210

3,309

226

3,097

272

2,848

230

2,565

144

South Wales

9,936

190

10,629

180

10,467

183

10,335

188

9,809

159

England and Wales

254,483

224

254,951

214

257,881

212

264,577

203

266,758

150


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