Written question asked by Nigel Evans (Conservative) on Monday, 26 February 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 28 February 2007. It was answered by Tony McNulty (Labour) on Thursday, 8 March 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Police: Dogs

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many dog handlers there were in each police force in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Answer

The available data are given in the following table.

Police officers whose primary function¹ is dogs by police force area, as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2006² (FTE)³
	31 March 2003	31 March 20044	31 March 2005	31 March 2006
Avon and Somerset	47	45	45	45
Bedfordshire	19	18	17	18
Cambridgeshire	19	18	18	19
Cheshire	24	23	22	21
Cleveland	18	19	19	17
Cumbria	20	21	19	20
Derbyshire	24	24	24	24
Devon and Cornwall	48	47	48	49
Dorset	22	20	21	22
Durham	26	27	24	25
Essex	46	45	48	48
Gloucestershire	16	14	17	17
Greater Manchester	116	118	90	96
Hampshire	28	35	36	36
Hertfordshire	27	26	26	29
Humberside	28	28	27	27
Kent	48	—	45	47
Lancashire	41	35	36	30
Leicestershire	4	25	24	22
Lincolnshire	22	22	22	19
London, City of	18	17	18	18
Merseyside	31	32	35	45
Metropolitan Police	205	237	241	251
Norfolk	19	22	20	20
Northamptonshire	14	13	13	13
Northumbria	54	60	61	60
North Yorkshire	23	23	21	21
Nottinghamshire	30	32	33	33
South Yorkshire	52	50	44	48
Staffordshire	27	28	27	25
Suffolk	14	14	13	13
Surrey	34	36	33	34
Sussex	49	48	51	47
Thames Valley	43	40	39	40
Warwickshire	15	15	16	16
West Mercia	35	37	38	37
West Midlands	69	69	67	69
West Yorkshire	62	68	61	58
Wiltshire	15	15	17	18
Dyfed-Powys	19	19	20	19
Gwent	16	15	15	16
North Wales	12	12	15	11
South Wales	43	40	43	39
¹ Staff with multiple responsibilities (or designations) are recorded under their primary role or function. The deployment of police officers is an operational matter for individual chief constables.
² Data not available prior to 2002-03.
³ Full-time equivalent. This figure includes those officers on career breaks or maternity/paternity leave.
4 Excludes Kent. Data not available.

Secondary information