Chamber
Plenary, 27 Mar 2003
27 Mar 2003 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Question Time
Police (Fife)
SCOTTISH EXECUTIVE
I do not accept the basis of Mr Harding's question. He will find that in Fife, as in other parts of Scotland, police numbers are at record levels. In Fife, there were 920 officers on 31 December 2002, compared with 835 in June 1999. By my reckoning, that is an increase of more than 10 per cent in the number of police officers over the parliamentary session.
We are also allowing more support staff to be engaged, which frees up officers for front-line duty. With regard to the funding that has gone into Fife, the level of grant-aided expenditure there will rise by more than the national average in each of the next three years. This year, there will be a rise of £44.4 million, which will rise to £57.8 million in 2005-06. Those are generous settlements by any stretch of the imagination, and they allow the chief constable of Fife constabulary to deploy additional officers to promote effective law and order policies in Fife.
We are also allowing more support staff to be engaged, which frees up officers for front-line duty. With regard to the funding that has gone into Fife, the level of grant-aided expenditure there will rise by more than the national average in each of the next three years. This year, there will be a rise of £44.4 million, which will rise to £57.8 million in 2005-06. Those are generous settlements by any stretch of the imagination, and they allow the chief constable of Fife constabulary to deploy additional officers to promote effective law and order policies in Fife.
In the same item of business
2. Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con):
Con
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will next meet representatives of Fife police board. (S1O-6712)
The Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice (Mr Jim Wallace):
LD
The Executive is in contact with representatives of police authorities and joint police boards on a regular basis. However, no formal meetings are planned wi...
Mr Harding:
Con
The minister will be aware that the number of recorded crimes and offences in Fife has got much worse during the four years of this Administration. Can he ex...
Mr Wallace:
LD
I do not accept the basis of Mr Harding's question. He will find that in Fife, as in other parts of Scotland, police numbers are at record levels. In Fife, t...
Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab):
Lab
The minister may have noticed the newspaper reports concerning the recent violent and vicious attack on the Rev David Adams, minister of Trinity parish churc...
The Presiding Officer (Sir David Steel):
NPA
I am concerned that there must be a question.
Helen Eadie:
Lab
I would be grateful if the minister would advise me whether he is aware that there are 400 fewer police officers in Fife than there are in Tayside, which has...
Mr Wallace:
LD
I express my profound sympathies to that particular victim of crime. As I suspect that there may be outstanding legal issues and the matter may be sub judice...