Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Herbert of South Downs and Jackie Doyle-Price

Monday 28th June 2010 Commons Chamber

[Jackie Doyle-Price (Thurrock) (Con)]

15. What recent representations she has received on the amount of time spent on administrative tasks by police officers each year.

[The Minister for Police (Nick Herbert)]

When I have spoken to police officers, they have asked us to help to free them up to do the job they are paid to do. I am committed to returning common sense to policing, which means getting officers back out on the streets dealing with crime, not sitting behind desks filling out forms to meet Government targets.

[Nick Herbert]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. Every Labour Home Secretary promised to cut bureaucracy, but the police still spend more time on paperwork than on patrol. We are determined to make a real difference by dealing with the central targets that bedevil policing and doing all we can to protect the front line.

[Jackie Doyle-Price]

Does my right hon. Friend agree that by freeing up police officers to spend more time on patrol, we will not only aid crime prevention but make the public feel much safer?

[Nick Herbert]

I strongly agree with my hon. Friend. What the public want to see is police officers out on the beat. They do not want them to be tied up with unnecessary paperwork. That is why we are so determined to deal with the performance management framework and the targets that have prevented them from doing the job they want to do.