Lord Wasserman – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Wasserman on 2016-03-01.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Chief Constables, or equivalent, in England and Wales are (1) female, and (2) members of the BME communities, and how those figures compare to those on 1 March 2011.

Lord Bates

The Government is clear that increasing diversity in our police forces is not an optional extra. It goes right to the heart of this country’s historic principle of policing by consent. We must ensure that the public have trust and confidence in the police, and that the police reflect the communities they serve.

The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of chief officers by gender and ethnicity on the Gov.uk website, using self declared diversity data. As well as chief constables, the chief officer group also includes assistant chief constables and deputy chief constables, and their equivalents in the Metropolitan police and City of London police. The data is provided in the attached tables (The Association of Chief Police Officers referred to in the data has been replaced by the National Police Chiefs’ Council).

The statistics do not separate chief constables from the chief officer cohort, therefore we are unable to provide a breakdown relating to chief constables specifically.

The Home Office does not collect information about how many chief constables, or equivalent, in England and Wales have a university degree.