Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that every police force in England has specialist child protection teams.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The allocation of resources within forces is an operational decision for Chief Constables. To ensure that all forces have adequate children’s safeguarding measures in place, the police are held to account by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which scrutinises how well all police forces across England and Wales are responding to and safeguarding vulnerable children through its rolling programme of inspections.
The Government is committed to improving the policing response to child protection, funding national programmes to develop and deliver an effective and victim-focused response safeguarding children. This includes a Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme which identifies and shares best practice across police forces, the Tackling Organised Exploitation Programme which helps police to uncover more offending against children, as well as a range of officer training programmes across all ranks to improve their confidence and capability to investigate and respond to child protection and safeguarding cases.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that 5,279 children have been stripped and searched by Metropolitan Police Officers; and what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) such action was appropriate and essential, and (2) children’s safety and wellbeing is considered.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Conducting a strip search is an operational matter for the police. Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and its use should not be a routine occurrence.
Any use of strip search should be carried out in accordance with the law and with full regard for the dignity and welfare of the individual being searched – particularly if the individual being searched is a child. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice govern how the police should deploy this power.
If the police judge it operationally necessary to strip search a child, this must be carried out by officers of the same sex, in private and with an appropriate adult present unless both the child and the appropriate adult agree otherwise and in line with safeguarding procedures.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many police forces in England and Wales have disbanded their specialist child protection teams and allocated their work to Criminal Investigation Departments.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Government does not keep a record of how individual police forces are structured. Team structures and deployment of officers within police forces are rightly decisions for Chief Constables, working with their democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners.
We recognise the need for police forces to be properly equipped to deal with the changing nature of crime. We have provided significant extra investment through the Police Transformation Fund to support policing to respond to changing crimes and threats including against vulnerable children.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 2 May (HL7063), whether they have any responsibilities relating to the performance of Police and Crime Panels; and if not, to whom Police and Crime Panels are accountable.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Police and Crime Panels (PCPs) have the appropriate powers, as set out in the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, to scrutinise the actions and decisions of elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and enable the public to hold them to account.
The Home Office provides grant funding to support PCPs in discharging their statutory functions, as set out in the Act, ensuring effective scrutiny of PCCs.
However, as PCPs are local bodies, modelled on local authority scrutiny committees, the Government does not have direct responsibility for their performance. PCPs are accountable to the constituent local authorities within their PCC’s force area which nominate members to the Panel.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 17 April (HL Deb, col 1070) concerning Operation Conifer, whether they have any responsibilities relating to the performance of police and crime commissioners; if so, what those responsibilities are; and if not, to whom police and crime commissioners are accountable.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are accountable to the public via the ballot box for ensuring the policing needs of local communities are met effectively.
Police and Crime Panels have the appropriate powers, agreed by Parliament, to scrutinise the actions and decisions of PCCs and enable the public to hold them to account.
Asked by: Lord Laming (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take in response to Home Office figures which show an increase in the number of deaths as a result of knife crime amongst under 19s.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Our work to tackle knife crime is centred on four key strands: working with the police on operations and enforcement; work on the legislative framework; to work with retailers on responsible sales of knives; and early intervention and prevention.
We are encouraging police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. It includes targeted stop and searches, weapon sweeps, test purchases of knives from retailers, the use of surrender bins, and educational activities. A record thirty-two police forces took part in the week of action in July.
We have agreed a set of commitments with major retailers to prevent the underage sales of knives in their stores and online. The agreement also covers staff training and displays and packaging.
We are keeping the legislative framework under review and we have taken action to ban zombie knives in August 2016. In addition on 14 October we launched a consultation on new legislation on offensive weapons. The proposals include placing restrictions on the online sale of knives, creating a new offence of possession of an offensive or dangerous weapon in a private place, and updating existing legislation. We have launched a community fund to support local communities to tackle knife crime.
We are also supporting youth violence intervention and prevention work in hospital emergency departments including supporting the voluntary sector organisation, Redthread, undertake work in London hospitals and pilots its approach shortly in Nottingham and Birmingham.