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22 July 2008 : Column 1370W—continued

Police: Public Participation

Mr. Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps the Government have taken to include the views of the public when deciding national policing priorities. [217644]

Mr. McNulty [holding answer 10 July 2008]: Since April there has been a neighbourhood policing team in every area—meeting the Government's commitment. Neighbourhood policing gives local communities a role in deciding policing priorities by working with them to identify and tackle local problems together, as well as providing a highly visible presence.

Both Sir Ronnie Flanagan's review of policing and the Casey review ‘Engaging Communities in Fighting Crime’ contain recommendations about how best to embed neighbourhood policing and ensure communities have a say in how they are policed. In the forthcoming policing Green Paper the new police pledge will take forward many of the recommendations and will set out new national standards for the police service to ensure the public receive visible, accountable and responsive policing.

Police: Road Traffic Control

Mr. Ruffley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what percentage of police resources is allocated to traffic policing in England and Wales, broken down by police force area; how many dedicated traffic police officers there were in each year since 1997, broken down by police force area; what recent discussions she has had with the Association of Chief Police Officers on the number of dedicated traffic police officers; and if she will make a statement. [219059]

Mr. McNulty: The Home Office police funding formula is designed to assess the relative need for resources between police authorities in England and Wales. The formula does not assign specific funding for any particular aspect of policing. Allocation of resources to specific areas of work within a force is a matter for the police authority and chief officer.

Available information on the number of police whose main function is traffic is in the following tables.

The Government have set implementation of the national roads policing strategy as a key action for the police in the national community safety plan. How they set about implementing the strategy is an operational matter for the police.

The Government believe, however, that it is not helpful to focus solely on numbers of dedicated traffic police: it is the most effective and efficient use of all resources that is most significant.

22 July 2008 : Column 1371W

Police Officers (FTE)( 1) whose primary function is Traffic( 2) from 2002 - 03 to 2006 - 07
	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Avon and Somerset	216	222	228	215	148
Bedfordshire	75	80	80	81	68
Cambridgeshire	85	99	101	99	96
Cheshire	194	200	194	85	91
Cleveland	64	73	—	61	72
Cumbria	107	110	108	111	114
Derbyshire	107	121	116	119	110
Devon and Cornwall	192	198	211	215	225
Dorset	91	86	82	81	80
Durham	111	119	108	105	100
Essex	241	242	243	243	231
Gloucestershire	62	66	67	73	67
Greater Manchester	406	392	359	342	352
Hampshire	248	246	244	240	237
Hertfordshire	150	151	149	149	145
Humberside	123	119	225	181	100
Kent	104	—	122	116	109
Lancashire	198	187	190	197	184
Leicestershire	92	95	85	77	72
Lincolnshire	90	89	96	102	100
London, City of	24	24	28	24	23
Merseyside	125	119	115	138	150
Metropolitan Police	583	592	1029	603	611
Norfolk	120	121	107	112	110
Northamptonshire	70	71	65	63	63
Northumbria	245	253	165	167	172
North Yorkshire	151	138	101	97	99
Nottinghamshire	—	121	133	134	139
South Yorkshire	180	127	134	141	143
Staffordshire	50	49	58	28	35
Suffolk	68	72	76	80	77
Surrey	108	110	107	99	87
Sussex	164	163	163	160	169
Thames Valley	259	259	245	236	237
Warwickshire	103	103	93	97	93
West Mercia	292	115	117	116	129
West Midlands	384	405	393	401	383
West Yorkshire	320	314	317	343	324
Wiltshire	91	96	93	—	89
Dyfed Powys	136	105	141	143	136
Gwent	93	95	96	102	95
North Wales	115	114	76	81	98
South Wales	243	245	243	243	252

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