Extract from Commons adjournment debate on SPAC Nation Mr
Steve Reed (Croydon North) (Lab/Co-op): I did not mean to put the
Minister in a difficult position or to be disingenuous in any way;
I am just concerned. Given the severity and volume of the
allegations, and the type of allegations that we are hearing, can
nothing further be done, perhaps by the Government working with the
Police and Crime Commissioners wherever that may be necessary, or
with the police forces, wherever that may...Request free trial
Extract from Commons
adjournment debate on SPAC Nation
Mr (Croydon North) (Lab/Co-op): I did
not mean to put the Minister in a difficult position or to be
disingenuous in any way; I am just concerned. Given the severity
and volume of the allegations, and the type of allegations that we
are hearing, can nothing further be done, perhaps by the Government
working with the Police and Crime Commissioners wherever that may
be necessary, or with the police forces, wherever that may be
necessary, to prevent this organisation, even if only temporarily,
from being able to stand outside school gates and youth centres and
target young people? I would be happy to work collaboratively with
the Minister and her colleagues to seek an answer to that—I
understand that I have not given warning of that question this
evening—but if there were some way for us to look at working
together to prevent any more young lives being destroyed, even
while investigations are going on, I would be immensely
grateful...
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Extracts from Lords
debate on the Queen's Speech
(Lab): My Lords, I declare my
interest as the elected police and crime commissioner for
Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. I start with a short tribute
to , the former police and crime
commissioner for Durham, whose life was celebrated yesterday at
Durham Cathedral. He was in a past life a senior police officer,
before being elected PCC in 2012. He was an outstanding and popular
police and crime commissioner who called himself the “police and
victims commissioner” and focused relentlessly on victims of crime.
He will be long remembered...
...Another challenge that I raise, in a gentle spirit, is this: it
looks as though the Government will be allocating £750 million to
fund the recruitment of these 20,000 new police officers. But
will Police
and Crime Commissioners and chief constables actually
receive that money? The figure may be nearer £630 million; the
rest, as the Government have already said, must come from that old
favourite, efficiency savings...
...Of course, the policy change is very welcome but all
Governments, whatever their complexion, are fond of giving with one
hand and taking away with another. With all the pressures that
there are on police forces up and down the country—those pressures
of course include recruitment as well as serious violent crime and
other matters that the House knows well—I argue that it would be a
major error for the Government to limit the amount
that Police
and Crime Commissioners are able to precept in the
coming settlement. That settlement is of course now out of date
but, because of the election, the new one has not yet been
announced; perhaps it will be announced next week. I really hope
that the Government will bear in mind, in the spirit of what they
are trying to do, that they should ensure that chief constables’
powers are not limited by too little precept...
(CB):...Finally, let me
turn to the issue of assisted dying—last but very much not least. I
want to pay tribute to , former police and crime
commissioner for Durham Constabulary, whose funeral I attended
yesterday in the cathedral. Ron campaigned for the legalisation of
assisted dying, as he himself lay dying of motor neurone disease.
He was unable to move, speak and all the rest of it, yet he was
somehow helping us to get this across. He did not want others to
suffer as he was suffering. Seventeen Police and Crime Commissioners joined
Ron in his end-of-life plea for reform. MPs, police officers and
doctors are increasingly aware of the cruelty of the current law,
from all sorts of points of view. One is the pain for police
officers having to arrest and interview bereaved relatives. They
cry on occasions because they find it so painful....
(Lab):...A number of
speakers referred to the rundown in police numbers and the pledges
made to reverse the cuts. My noble friend spoke very powerfully on this
issue, as a serving police and crime commissioner. The noble and
learned Lord, , said the Government
would be recruiting 20,000 extra officers over the next three
years. As has been pointed out, to reverse the cuts since 2010, a
figure of nearer 40,000 police officers will need to be recruited
over three years to achieve a net increase of 20,000. Can the
Government confirm that 40,000 officers will need to be recruited?
Can they confirm, or otherwise, what my noble friend said, which is that £120 million of
the £750 million the Government are likely to allocate to fund
police officer recruitment will have to be funded by so-called
efficiency savings after a decade of austerity?
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