Oral Answers to Questions

Amanda Milling Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

The right hon. Gentleman makes a very important point. My understanding is that the one tug that has been sustained off the coast of Scotland has played an important role in the past. The cost is between £2 million to £3 million a year. It is currently used very sparingly, so it is right to look at the right way to deliver the service in the future. Alternative options would clearly take time to develop and implement, which is why we have announced that this will be funded until 30 September 2016, and we will have to make a decision on provision in due course. I will keep him in touch with those developments.

[Amanda Milling (Cannock Chase) (Con)]

Q7. We believe in doing the right thing—[Interruption.]—which is why it is absolutely right that the proceeds of crime are returned to the local communities that have been the victims of crime. Staffordshire’s police and crime commissioner, Matthew Ellis, is calling on community groups in Cannock Chase to apply for grants from his commissioner’s proceeds of crime fund. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that shows that our excellent Conservative police and crime commissioner is delivering real value for the people of Staffordshire?

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend makes an important point. Police and crime commissioners have really bedded in properly as a means of bringing our police to account. The Home Affairs Committee, an all-party Committee, reported recently that those PCCs provide greater clarity of leadership for policing and are increasingly recognised by the public as accountable for the strategic direction of their police force. That is an important reform, and when PCCs bring forward ideas such as using the proceeds of crime in the way that she suggests they should be rewarded at the ballot box.