Extracts from Lords debate on Knife Crime - Jun 27
Friday, 28 June 2019 08:26
Lord Paddick (LD): ...At the same time as the criminal gang culture
has grown, the visible presence of authority on the streets has
diminished. Community police officers and, more importantly, police
community support officer numbers have been decimated. There has
been a 19% real-terms reduction in total funding from central and
local government to Police and Crime Commissioners from
2010-11 compared with 2018-19. Central government funding for
commissioners has fallen 30% in...Request free trial
(LD): ...At the same
time as the criminal gang culture has grown, the visible presence
of authority on the streets has diminished. Community police
officers and, more importantly, police community support officer
numbers have been decimated. There has been a 19% real-terms
reduction in total funding from central and local government
to Police
and Crime Commissioners from 2010-11 compared with
2018-19. Central government funding for commissioners has fallen
30% in real terms since 2010-11. Since the peak of 31 March
2009, police officer numbers have fallen by 21,365—over 14%—as of
31 March 2018. Police community support officers, the bridge
between the police and communities, has fallen by 7,127—a reduction
of over 42%...
(Con):...The
good news is that our local Police and Crime Commissioners and
their forces are more than able to rise to this challenge, not only
in tactical policing operations but with imaginative social
programmes involving local schools and doctors. I wish I had time
to tell noble Lords about some of these
programmes, such as those developed in Norfolk by
PCC , in Bedfordshire by PCC
and in Staffordshire by PCC
...
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams
of Trafford) (Con):...On resources, we have heard today
about the importance of providing police forces
and Police
and Crime Commissioners with the funding they
need to recruit more officers to keep our communities safe. The
Government have increased funding for the police by £1 billion this
year, as the noble Lord, , said, including through
council tax and the new £100 million Serious Violence Fund which
the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, talked about. I
shall say more about the fund later, but it is worth noting that
the overall settlement for the police this year represents the
biggest increase in police funding since 2010. The partial answer—I
am sure it is not the whole one—to why the amount going in does not
seem to correspond to very many police officers is that there is
always a lag between money coming in and police being recruited. I
will try to answer that valid point more fully in writing...
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