Police Leadership Commission Report

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Baroness Wheatcroft

Wednesday 8th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend; it is good to see him in his place. The recommendations are looking at how we can significantly improve senior leadership. Some of the recommendations may mean that we need to look at how we fast-track individuals to leadership and, in doing so, how we give them effective training and support to understand the issues that they face. Ultimately, the core element of policing is the officer on the beat, male or female, who deals with the fight on a Saturday night, who deals with the shoplifter, who deals with anti-social behaviour, and who deals with all the issues that police officers deal with on a regular basis—including, as the noble Baroness, Lady Doocey, said, issues that are not directly their responsibility but which they have to deal with, because they are the last, and first, port of call in many cases.

With this whole package, we are trying to look at how we improve skill levels across the board, and that might well include looking at how we give greater skills, support and training to the front-line police officer. However, a clear issue has been identified: the failure of effective management at a senior level in some areas. It is equally important that that is addressed, and that is what we intend to do when we have a chance to reflect on the recommendations.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the report and the sensible recommendations in it. It highlights the current importance of cliques and networks in promotions in the police. There are comments such as:

“If you don’t have a network, you’re not going to get a promotion.”


The Met has decided that membership of organisations such as the Freemasons has to be declared, and many hundreds have declared their membership, but has that made any difference, and do other forces go far enough? Does the Minister think that more needs to be done to rule out the sort of nepotism and networks that have meant that, in the end, the pool of talent is much reduced?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes a very interesting point on the discussions. I believe that promotions should be made on merit. They should be made on the skills and adaptations of individual officers to do the next job that they face—or, for an ordinary police constable, on the different types of skills that might be required, such as those that do not necessarily involve being on the beat. That should be done on merit. Going back to the recommendations that have been made, the commission’s report highlights that policing needs a clearer and more coherent system that supports professional development and, by that very mechanism, supports people being promoted on merit. When we have a chance to reflect on those recommendations, I hope that will be at the heart of what we do.

Grooming Gangs: Independent Inquiry

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Baroness Wheatcroft

Thursday 11th December 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord. The survivors are not a coterminous, cohesive group. They have different experiences and different views on what is happening. The noble Baroness, Lady Casey, and now my noble friend Lady Longfield are trying at least to meet a panel of survivors to examine how best we can involve survivors and victims in the process of both the appointment of the chair, as has been done, and the terms of reference. Again, it is important that survivors continue to express their views. We have allocated around £3.6 million this week to support Operation Beaconport, and a portion of that resource is to assist survivors and help them to be able to work with the inquiry in a positive way. That is not a finite sum and it may be reviewed at a later date, but the initial £3.65 million that we have put in place is there both to try to help to support the prosecution of historical perpetrators and to assist victims in this process, which I know is extremely difficult for them. The whole purpose of what we are trying to do, as I am sure the noble Lord will accept and support, is to not retraumatise victims as far as possible by the actions of this inquiry.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, many of the victims at the centre of the inquiry were victims at least twice over: they were abused by the gangs but also by those who were supposed to be caring for them. The inquiry will be looking at systemic failures in the system and will go on for three years. Can the Minister assure us that those who were working in the so-called care system at the time, and were responsible for effectively abandoning these children, will not be allowed to work with children again? That includes the three years during which the inquiry winds on.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The noble Baroness invites me to come to conclusions about what the inquiry might say in any particular circumstance. Hopefully, I can reassure her by saying that the inquiry is already going to look at individual authorities urgently. If there are emerging issues, then I expect my noble friend Lady Longfield to report those to Ministers. They are beginning to look at the local authority of Oldham as a first priority, and there may be more that they look at individually. I suspect that if there are lessons to be learned during the course of the inquiry, such as those that the noble Baroness has mentioned, they will be drawn to the attention of Ministers, but we have set a remit and a scope for the inquiry and I think it fair that we let the chair and panel members, with the guidance of the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, examine those issues. Self-evidently, though, if someone has not performed their duty and that has led to the exploitation and grooming of individuals and has failed in their professional duty, then they should be held to account for that. What I cannot say to the noble Baroness is who, what, where and when, because that is part of the purpose of the inquiry.

Asylum Seekers: MoD Housing

Debate between Lord Hanson of Flint and Baroness Wheatcroft

Thursday 30th October 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The noble Lord makes a valid and important point, and certainly one to reflect on. It is extremely important that we encourage and continue that training and support, as the noble Lord has identified. Government policy is designed to do that. He will note that my noble friend Lord Coaker, the Defence Minister, is on the Bench today. He is very much apprised of the issues raised, and we will work in close quarters to ensure that the objectives outlined by the noble Lord are achieved.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, what plans do the Government have for looking after the children who continue to come into this country? In the past they have been kept in completely unsatisfactory hotels, and many have vanished without trace.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I assure the noble Baroness that there will be no children in the two sites that are before the House in this Urgent Question today. She makes a valid point: a number of children have gone missing. We inherited that—it is not a political point; we just inherited that position. We are putting some urgency into trying to track down those children. We have put in place revised arrangements, particularly with the Kent local authority, to ensure that it is engaged very strongly in the initial arrival point. Children should not be damaged because, for whatever reason, their parents, guardians or relatives have arrived in the United Kingdom.