Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police community support officers were working in police forces in (a) Bristol, (b) Avon and Somerset and (c) England and Wales in (i) 2010 and (ii) according to the most recently available figures.

The Home Office collects data on the number of Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) employed by each police force in England and Wales. Figures for Basic Command units, including Bristol, ceased to be collected centrally from 2012 onwards. The table provided contains statistics on the number of PCSOs in Avon and Somerset and England and Wales as at 31 March 2010 and 31 March 2015. The table also contains the available data for Bristol BCU for 31 March 2010. As HMIC has made clear, there is no simple link between police numbers and crime levels, between numbers and the visibility of police in the community, or between numbers and the quality of service provided.