No one has yet seen fit to resolve the Crisis of Numbers, which is the real crisis of the prison service, by enacting permanent legislation to reduce the prison population both by reducing prison sentences and by reducing the categories of offenders who can be committed to prison.

The Church of England faces a Crisis in the Number of its ordained Ministers.

In London, we face a severe prospective Crisis in the Number of doctors and GPs and, in some areas, of nurses and other practitioners.

When there is a Crisis in the Number of teachers, when schools are unable to employ experienced head teachers and department heads because of a lack of funds, it is an insult to tell them that, instead, they will be able to buy some new poetry books.

That failure to spend early enough in the course of the Parliament has resulted in the problems outlined by so many noble Lords today: a shortage of beds, unacceptably long waits for treatment and a Crisis in Numbers for all staff--nurses, midwives, doctors and professions allied to medicine.

It is a shame that he is not here, because I discovered that the Crisis in Numbers is acute in Sheffield, his former bailiwick.

By any objective standard, there is no Crisis in the Number of people who go through first degrees.

Therefore, we find a considerable Crisis in the Numbers in the PSNI.

That amendment would mean that what is a sensible arrangement for dealing with an emergency or Crisis in Numbers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland might be of practical use and is more likely to be effective.

It would be desirable to recruit people from south of the border and, indeed, from England, Wales and Scotland - from anywhere in order to meet the pressing Crisis of Numbers.

It is clear that the introduction four years ago of indeterminate sentences for public protection is producing a Crisis in Numbers.

We have a Crisis in the Number of pupils engaged in modern language education.

However, discussing the Crisis in Numbers overlooks the important impact - that behind each and every person are families and friendship groups suffering from uncertainty and the sad realisation that they are powerless to act.

No one said we had a huge increase in passengers and a Crisis of Numbers - not one word.