Serious and Organised Crime: Prüm Convention

Debate between Andrew Turner and Damian Green

Tuesday 8th December 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mr Andrew Turner]

Will my right hon. Friend assist me by saying whether Iceland, for instance, should be encouraged to join?

[Damian Green]

Iceland is not a member of the European Union. If Iceland wished to sign some kind of deal with the European Union, I assume that it would be open to Iceland to do so, but I have seen no sign that it does. It is not within the purview of this House to dictate to the Icelandic Government and people what they should do. I imagine that they want to keep their streets safe as well.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Andrew Turner and Damian Green

Monday 27th January 2014 Commons Chamber

[Damian Green]

I agree very much with my right hon. Friend. The specials do a great job anyway, and their recruitment is particularly important, both as a way of increasing the diversity of forces, and as an entry route to full-time paid policing. Specials bring a degree of expertise from outside the traditional policing route, but many find it such a satisfactory career that they wish to pursue it full time.

[Mr Andrew Turner (Isle of Wight) (Con)]

Do the words “disadvantaged groups” in the question suggest that white working-class people should also gain from any measures?

[Damian Green]

It is not for me to anticipate what the hon. Member for Mitcham and Morden (Siobhain McDonagh) was thinking when she tabled the question, but I have made the point that the Metropolitan police is offering interest-free loans; as I say, they will be made on the basis of residency in London—because the commissioner of the Met is keen that policing in London be done increasingly by people who live in the Metropolitan police area—and on the basis of means-testing. I think my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight (Mr Turner) can be reassured on that point.