Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many metropolitan police officers there were serving in Greater London in Safer Neighbourhood Teams in (a) 2011 and (b) 2016.

Answer (Mr Nick Hurd)

The Home Office collects and publishes data on the number of officers primarily employed in Neighbourhood Policing/Safer Neighbourhood roles by police force area.

The number of full time equivalent police officers in the Metropolitan Police,

primarily employed in Neighbourhood Policing/Safer Neighbourhood roles, can be found in the data tables published alongside the annual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales

Data as at 31 March 2016 can be found in Table F4 of the police workforce statistics published in July 2016: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/544954/police-workforce-tabs-jul16.ods

Previous data were collected under a different framework, with different definitions. Therefore, data prior to 31 March 2015 are not directly comparable with later years. Although some functions may appear to be similar between the two, there are often differences in definitions, and so any attempts to compare across the two frameworks should be done with caution. Data under the old framework have been published since 2012, and can be found in the supplementary data tables of the relevant police workforce publications via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-workforce-england-and-wales

Officers with multiple responsibilities or designations are recorded under their primary function. The data do not therefore provide a complete picture of all officers assigned to neighbourhood policing functions. A more reliable measure is the number of officers employed in ‘Local policing’ roles, which includes both neighbourhood and response functions. This measure is available for 2015 and 2016, but not for previous years where a different framework was used.

Any comparisons at force level should be made with care due to collaboration arrangements between forces for particular functions. Additionally, police functions data are often affected by re-structuring within police forces. Therefore comparisons over time for specific functions should be made with care.