Written question asked by Ivan Henderson (Labour) on Wednesday, 21 July 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 12 October 2004. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Tuesday, 12 October 2004 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the changes in police officer numbers in Essex has been since 1997. - Inc table and figures. (Holding answer 7 September 2004).

Answer: Mr. Ivan Henderson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the changes in police officer numbers in Essex has been since 1997. [186317] Ms Blears: [holding answer 7 September 2004]: On 31 May 2004 Essex police had 3,130 police officers, a record number and 169 more than in March 1997. The table shows strength for each year since March 1997. Essex police: strength March 1997 to May 2004 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. As at 31 March) Police number1 Change in strength Percentage 1997 2,961 -- -- 1998 2,928 -33 (-1.1) 1999 2,891 -37 (-1.3) 2000 2,806 -85 (-2.9) 2001 22,887 +81 (+2.9) 2002 2,946 +59 (+2) 2003 32,989 +43 (+1.6) 2004 3,098 +109 (+3.6) 2004 (31 August) 3,106 +8 (+0.26) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 Source for 1997 to March 2004 is the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate (RDS). August 2004 was collected separately outside of the normal data collection arrangements and has not been subject to the same validation as RDS data. 2 Boundary changes with the Metropolitan police on 1 April 2000 contributed to the increase in police officer strength during 2000-01. 3 This corrects information provided in the Official Report, column 876, where "all officers" for 31 March 2003 had been provided in error, rather than "all officers (excl. career brakes and maternity leave)".

Secondary information