Death of Ann Widdecombe

Lord Barber of Chittlehampton Excerpts

Tuesday 14th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her personal tribute to and recollections of Ann Widdecombe. I cannot say I ever had a fruit salad with her and I cannot say I ever went for tea in No. 10 with Mrs Thatcher, but I understand the mood in which she has placed those comments and I thank her for them. I also echo wholeheartedly her wish that, at some point and at some time, somebody will be charged with this murder, will be brought to account and will face the consequences of their foul deed.

[Lord Barber of Chittlehampton (Lab)]

My Lords, I am humbled by the quality of this debate and conversation about somebody I did not know. My association comes from being a resident of Devon, living on the other side of Dartmoor and having spent significant time at Buckfast Abbey, and the shock of hearing of her death was very great. I send condolences to her family and friends, many of them in this Chamber.

Looking at it from the outside, I thought Devon & Cornwall Police handled things rather well in the first few days and I think it is collaborating well with counterterrorism police now. As the investigation continues, I believe that what we all need as we get new insights and facts is to wholeheartedly support all the police involved in this investigation, the counterterrorism police and Devon & Cornwall Police, because they are collaborating very well.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend and I agree with and wholeheartedly support his wish for the police to be allowed to get on with the investigation. I was just checking my phone because the police are in fact making a statement as we speak. I cannot update the House on the level of co-operation between Devon & Cornwall Police and Counter Terrorism Policing, but both have the same objective, which is to bring to account an individual, at some point and whoever that individual may be, for this crime. I wish them well in their success and I hope they have speedy outcomes to those investigations.

Police Leadership Commission Report

Lord Barber of Chittlehampton Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I assure my noble friend that when we have agreed the recommendations, we will make sure that we include the very point he mentioned. If I sit down now, it gives one other Member a chance to ask a question.

[Lord Barber of Chittlehampton (Lab)]

My Lords, it is an honour to follow my noble friend Lord Blunkett. I congratulate the noble Lords, Lord Blunkett and Lord Herbert, on an outstanding report. Does the Minister agree that police leadership is at its best when police leaders feel they can confidently take on crime, and have the skills they need, the backing they deserve from Government and the active support of the other public services involved in tackling crime in our country?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

Absolutely—that is central to what the Government seek to achieve. I again pay tribute to both noble Lords, their staff, the commission members and the voluntary staff who supported them. They have tried to identify the challenges in leadership, and that the policing landscape and crime are changing—some 45% of crime is online fraud. The police will face a range of new challenges, and we need effective, strong leaders who reflect their communities, understand the levels of crime and have the strategic skills to tackle them. At the same time, we are still going to rely on the support of the everyday police officer working on the street. We need to recognise those who have given long service and the skills they need.

In closing, the noble Lords’ recommendations are valuable and welcome, and I thank them for their assistance. I assure the House that we will reflect on the recommendations and bring back a coherent plan of action.

Knife Crime

Lord Barber of Chittlehampton Excerpts

Wednesday 15th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I agree with the noble Baroness on that. As I said, as part of my general contribution, some of the work that the MoJ is doing and is for individuals who are on that cusp and who might well be getting involved in a gang and carrying a knife. There are resources in the knife crime action plan for the Ministry of Justice not to have a criminal justice outcome for those individuals but to try to find ways in which we can divert them and support them to choose a different lifestyle and break with that gang culture.

Interestingly, some 63,611 knives have been taken out of circulation since the general election through the surrender scheme; that includes weapons through the ninja sword surrender scheme, which had cross-party support, as well as the schemes for zombie knives and machetes, and knives seized by Border Force when they entered the country. We are trying to reduce the types of knife that can be carried or used for those offensive purposes. Every one of us will use a knife in our daily work or life; we have to look at what we do with the ninja knives that we have banned and with the import of the wrong type of knife and the measures that we have taken on registration. The noble Baroness makes a very important point that criminalising young people is not necessarily the best way in which to help them to have a lifetime free of criminal activity, which is key to the plan.

[Lord Barber of Chittlehampton (Lab)]

My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend on the strategy and specifically on the collaboration across government, which is fundamental to ensuring that this knife crime plan works, as I am sure it will. I draw attention to the big increase in school attendance that the DfE and Ministers there achieved in 2024-25. I know that they are building on that now—5 million extra days of school attendance in that single year, which must make a contribution. Can we encourage the DfE to focus specifically on the most persistent truants in the most dangerous hotspot areas? That would make a significant contribution to the strategy.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The ambition of the Government through the Department for Education is to look at improving attendance at schools across the board. I have sat on a couple of Cabinet committees where that work has been shown to prove successful. That is a cross-government initiative to get children and young people into school. My noble friend makes a valuable point. I mentioned earlier, and I think it is worth mentioning again, that the pupil premium funding led by the Department for Education is now available to fund particular challenges in state schools that have disadvantaged children and where school attendance is down and there are interventions to support pupils’ social, emotional and behavioural needs. The pupil premium grant is £3.2 billion this year, and there is significant evidence that, as my noble friend has mentioned, it is an effective way to reduce the risk of serious violence, including knife crime. That is a Department for Education-led approach but, as I have said, the knife crime plan is a prime ministerial objective. The Home Office is leading this, but all departments involved—the MoJ, the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care—are playing a role to meet some objectives to help that ambitious target of halving knife crime.