Oral Answers to Questions

Anne Marie Morris Excerpts

Monday 27th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) (Con)]

5. What estimate she has made of the potential additional time available for police officers arising from planned reductions in administrative burdens.

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

7. What estimate she has made of the potential additional time available for police officers arising from planned reductions in administrative burdens.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert)]

The police should be focusing on police work, not paperwork. That is why, last month, the Government announced a package of new measures to cut red tape, saving up to 2.5 million police hours a year.

[Anne Marie Morris]

I thank the Minister for that response and I am sure that my constituents will welcome measures that will cut the time that our police officers have to spend on paperwork and administration. I wonder whether the Minister would kindly update the House on what steps are being taken to improve the accountability of the police.

[Nick Herbert]

We want to improve the accountability of the police and the whole criminal justice system to the public and we are proceeding with our plan to introduce directly elected police and crime commissioners to do that—those measures are currently under discussion in the Lords—and measures such as the introduction of street level crime mapping. The police.uk website has received more than 420 million hits since its launch.