Policing

Andrew Jones Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Jones (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (Con)]

The motion before us makes the typical Labour mistake of looking at inputs rather than outputs, and looking at the process rather than what the process is designed to achieve. It does not mention that crime is coming down or that there are fewer victims of crime. The shadow Minister gave a fulsome tribute—I think correctly—to the men and women of our police services; indeed, the Minister did, too. The motion, however, fails to give police the recognition they deserve for the way they have delivered crime reduction—by doing more for less.

Let me start with a significant police success. Crime in England and Wales has fallen by 6% compared with last year. In my area, North Yorkshire, it has fallen by 10%— a fantastic result. Of particular note is the 27% reduction in robbery. I would therefore like to put on record my praise and thanks to the members of North Yorkshire police who have delivered this reduction.

While we are on North Yorkshire matters, I would like to take the opportunity to highlight the excellent work of a police charity based in Harrogate. I refer to Police Treatment Centres, a charity with two treatment centres—one in Harrogate and the other in Auchterarder in the Ochil and South Perthshire constituency—where serving and retired police officers can recover from illness or injury by receiving care and treatment. I know we all remember that our policemen and women do brave things, which can sometimes mean getting injured and needing more care. The charity serves the forces of northern England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, plus the British Transport police, the Civil Nuclear police and the Ministry of Defence police, and looked after nearly 4,000 people last year. I have visited the Harrogate site several times so I have seen their first-class facilities; they do a fantastic job. I was very pleased to see the Government recognise the importance of the charity’s work earlier this year, with the award of a £500,000 grant for the refurbishment of part of the Harrogate site. I thank the Minister for his support.

We are, of course, in a period of significant change in our police services, and one of the changes is the arrival of police and crime commissioners. I support the arrival of police and crime commissioners. I do so because they deal with the invisibility and lack of accountability of the police authorities that they replace. Law and order is an issue that matters hugely to voters, but with police authorities voters did not get their say. The police and crime commissioners will be voices for the public, for victims and for the vulnerable; they will be strong local voices empowered to deal with important local concerns. Our PCC candidate in North Yorkshire is Julia Mulligan, and I know she has had a successful track record in business and community work, which I think makes for the right qualities for a first-class commissioner.

The motion says that the Electoral Reform Society is worried about voter turnout in the PCC elections. I would say to Opposition Members that the Electoral Reform Society is not always a source of wisdom. For example, it was strongly in favour of the yes vote in the referendum we had last year. It is fair to say that there is not yet huge, widespread awareness of these elections, but that is always a feature of new things when, by definition, people have no experience of the benefits they can bring. A TV advertising campaign will boost that awareness, and there will be candidates out on the doorstep and campaign teams out delivering leaflets. The more these elections are talked about, the better the turnout will be, so at least something good may come from this debate.

I thought that Lord Blair’s intervention over the weekend was misguided. He said that people should not vote in these elections because the areas that form the geography for the police and crime commissioners were too large. However, they are the same areas as those that are served by a single police force led by a single chief constable. I suspect that Lord Blair was really saying that he did not want the public to have much of a role in policing—that being a commissioner was too complex for people. I think that is absolute nonsense. I also think that the more he talks about the elections, the more he will boost turnout by ensuring that they are in the news.

As I said earlier, the motion is typical of the Labour party in that it refers to how much the Government spend rather than to what they achieve. In policy area after policy area, year after year, Labour defines success as spending more. We do not have a £1 trillion debt because a Government could not find ways in which to spend public money. The problem is that there is always a way of spending public money, and defining success by how much is spent leads to pressure to spend, spend, spend. The motion perpetuates that mistake.

I do not often agree with the former Home Secretary Charles Clarke—especially given his remark that he could visit Harrogate in order to spend some time on the beach—but I agree with what he said on one occasion:

“We need to look beyond police numbers alone. The debate should be about what you do and how you do it, not just how many of you there are to do it.”

The key measure of police success is falling crime. In our country the chance of being a victim of crime is the lowest for 30 years, which suggests that the Government reforms are right. Resources are being taken from back office to front line, and the proportion of officers who are involved in front-line roles has increased from 83% to 89%. We are seeing the scrapping of targets and bureaucracy. I am sure that, over the past few years, we have all spoken to police officers who have been keen to tell us about the bureaucracy that they face. It is estimated that the cuts in bureaucracy will save 3 million police hours a year.

The Government are also helping the police forces to work together. Shared procurement and IT can save millions. In my area of North Yorkshire and the Humber— which is also represented by the former Home Secretary, the right hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle (Alan Johnson)—the police forces are working together on a shared vehicle procurement and management programme. That alone is saving £7 million.

My main point, however, concerns the way in which the links between the police and the public are being rebuilt. We see that in the arrival of the democratic accountability of police and crime commissioners, and we see it in the increase in the number of police community support officers and police delivering neighbourhood policing. The numbers have risen by 2,300 in two years. I have met almost all the PCSOs in my constituency, and I have been impressed by their work. I know that they work and communicate well with local communities, and that they are popular figures on the streets of Harrogate and Knaresborough.

I think that this is a period of change, but I also think that it is an exciting time for our police. On the key measure of success, they are performing well. They deserve our support, and they certainly have mine.

[Several hon. Members]

rose—