Asked by
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many recruits to the police
service were taken on as (1) uniformed officers, and (2)
community support officers, between 1 April 2020 and 31 August
2021 in the 43 police force areas in England and Wales.
The Minister of State, Home Office () (Con)
My Lords, the latest police officer uplift statistics, published
yesterday, show that police forces in England and Wales recruited
a total of 17,872 officers between April 2020 and September of
this year. There are now 139,908 officers in total, of which
11,053 can be attributed to the Government’s police uplift
pledge. The most recently published data shows that forces
recruited 1,198 police community support officers between April
2020 and March 2021.
(Lab)
I know the Minister will join me in congratulating the police and
services across England and Wales on what is a very impressive
recruitment programme, taking us back to the figures we had in
2010. However, given the incidents that have occurred recently,
including the committal of a serving officer to custody on the
accusation of rape yesterday, what guidance is now being given to
forces on the vetting of those they are recruiting, the
monitoring of those under training and access to social media
accounts in order to protect the public from those who should be
protecting them in the first place?
(Con)
The noble Lord is absolutely right to ask that question, which
has already been raised this week. New recruits are subject to a
rigorous vetting and assessment process to assess suitability for
the role of police officer, including testing against core
behaviours and values. The College of Policing sets the standard
through the vetting statutory code of practice. We utterly
recognise some of the anxieties around vetting and have
commissioned HMICFRS to carry out an urgent thematic inspection
of force vetting arrangements, which will help to identify any
areas to address.
(LD)
My Lords, two weeks ago, Policy Exchange criticised the
Metropolitan Police for its “unusual and unjustified strategy” of
using stop and search in the face of the spike in knife crime.
Compared with other metropolitan forces, such as Merseyside, it
had the highest rate of stop and search and the lowest rate for
apprehending drug dealers. Crucially, the Met also had the second
lowest rate of officers involved in neighbourhood policing.
Police community support officers form the backbone of community
policing, playing a vital role in building trust and confidence
and securing community intelligence, which is vital in fighting
knife crime, but since 2010 their numbers have been decimated.
What plans do the Government have to recruit more PCSOs,
particularly in London? They have mandated recruitment of police
officers; why not PCSOs?
(Con)
In general terms, PCSOs will be recruited according to local
need. The noble Lord is absolutely right that they are a very
valuable resource for policing. They are very good at community
engagement and deliver more than just that visible police
presence. Prevention, problem solving and safeguarding the
vulnerable remain key and PCSOs are most definitely at the
forefront of this.
(Lab)
My Lords, my noble friend highlighted the fact that
this welcome uplift will bring police numbers nearly back to the
level they were at before this Government cut them. We all
welcome a sinner that repenteth, but is it right to gloat about
such a repentance? Could the Minister also acknowledge that, for
a police officer to be effective, they need the appropriate
support structures and staffing, including not only PCSOs, as has
just been mentioned, but forensics and all the other support
services? None of that is covered in this uplift. What the
Government are doing is recruiting police officers without the
support structures they need. Will the Government remedy that?
(Con)
I agree with the noble Lord on an awful lot, but I disagree with
the term “gloat”. I do not think we have been gloating about it
at all. This House has talked frequently about the need to
increase police numbers. In light of the changing patterns of
crime, we have done just that, in line with what the public want.
of Cheltenham (LD) [V]
My Lords, I have good reason to be grateful to Gloucestershire
Police, who helped me in January 2000 after the attack in my
constituency office in which my assistant Andrew Pennington died.
Is the Minister as concerned as I am to note yesterday’s report
that Gloucestershire Constabulary has been graded inadequate in
five out of 10 key performance indicators in a recent inspection,
including safeguarding vulnerable victims? The chief constable
says it is now undergoing a massive recruitment drive and the
commissioner says he cannot guarantee he will be able to deliver
on his election promises. Why have the Government left
Gloucestershire with an inadequate number of police personnel?
(Con)
My Lords, the police uplift programme—I gave the figures in my
response to the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett—will enable the police
to tackle crime in their areas. I understand the noble Lord’s
concern over the report, but I am sure an action plan for
improvement will be in place, and the numbers of new recruits
should certainly help across the country in reducing crime and
keeping the public safe.
(Lab)
I come back to the question raised by my noble friend . Am I to infer from the
answer given that, despite recent abhorrent events and
disclosures, no actual changes have yet been made in the vetting
and monitoring process for new recruits to the police service? If
I am wrong in saying that, could the Minister spell out what
changes have already been made to this process?
(Con)
My Lords, I outlined the scope of the inquiry and the two parts
that the Home Secretary has announced. Part one will look at the
vetting procedures to see if they are inadequate in light of what
happened to Sarah Everard and how her killer managed to do what
he did. The inquiry will look at precisely that.
(Lab)
My Lords, I worry that the recent policing scandals to which my
noble friends and referred have undermined the
recruitment of women police officers and black police officers in
particular. Because of that worry, I ask the Minister if her
breakdown of the recruitment figures bears that out. Whether it
does or not, will the Government now consider legislating for
affirmative action to allow the recruitment of more black and
female officers in particular, as requested by many chiefs in
previous years?
(Con)
My Lords, there is good news here. As of this September, there
were 47,425 female officers in post, accounting for 33.9% of all
officers. That is a big increase. On the same date, there were
10,690 officers who identified as belonging to the BME community.
This is the highest level on record. I can understand the context
of the noble Baroness’s question and why the figures might be
different from what she would have expected, but I think this is
really good news.
