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Home Office

Answer

Claire Ward: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers there were in Hertfordshire in (a) 1995 and (b) 2004; and if he will make a statement on the percentage change in funding of the police service during that period. [207569] Ms Blears: On 31 March 1995 there were 1,703 police officers in the Hertfordshire Constabulary. The latest figure, for 31 August 2004, is 2,124 officers, an increase of 421, or 24.7 per cent. officers. The increase in officer numbers and funding for Hertfordshire Police Authority was affected by changes to the boundaries of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 1 April 2000, when parts of the Metropolitan Police District were transferred to Essex, Hertfordshire and Surrey. The effects of the boundary changes were incorporated into the police funding formula and the overall transfer was in terms of financial resources, not officers. However, 183 MPS officers were seconded to Hertfordshire on 1 April 2000 for up to two years to assist with policing while Hertfordshire Constabulary arranged to recruit its own officers for the expanded force area. General grants (comprised of Home Office principal Police Grant, Revenue Support Grant and redistributed business rates) to Hertfordshire Police Authority have increased by 45.4 per cent. between 1995-96 and 2004-05. In addition to general Government grants, Hertfordshire Police Authority has also benefited from specific grants for targeted programmes, first introduced in 2000-01, such as the Crime Fighting Fund (CFF), to increase and maintain the number of police officers. Hertfordshire has had CFF funding to support the recruitment of 113 additional police officers.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

207569; 430 c284-5W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Police Hertfordshire

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk