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Question for Home Office

UIN HL578, tabled on 6 July 2017

Her Majesty's Government how many BAME (1) men, and (2) women, hold senior and chief officer positions in police constabularies in England and Wales; how many such positions there are; and what assessment they have made of the recruitment trends to such positions, in terms of improved access to, and diversity within, senior positions.

Answered on

20 July 2017

The Home Office collects and publishes statistics on the number of police officers employed by each police force in England and Wales on a bi-annual basis. These data are published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins. The Home Office does not collect information on the number of posts available.

Detailed data on the number of officers in post, broken down by rank, gender and ethnicity are collected and published on an annual basis only. The requested data, representing the picture as at 31 March 2016, can be found in the attached Table_D1 accompanying the main release here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2016

Data for previous years can be found in the Open Data Tables, available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/539981/open-data-table-police-workforce-ethnicity.ods

The Government has made it easier than ever before for the public to hold their PCC and chief constable to account over how diverse their force is compared to the local population. Police.uk now gives access to diversity data for officers and police staff, and the profile of BME and female officers by police rank, in comparison to the local force area population. We are in regular discussion with the College of Policing, who are leading work with chief constables and others to improve senior police recruitment.

The Government’s direct entry schemes at Inspector and Superintendent ranks help to attract the most talented people into policing, bringing in fresh experience, diversity and perspectives. Of the 40 inspectors and superintendents who have started the scheme so far 43% have been women and 13% were from an ethnic minority background. Chief Constable appointments have also been opened up to those with equivalent experience from overseas.

Answered by

Home Office