Oral Answers to Questions

Barry Sheerman Excerpts

Monday 11th April 2016 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

The right hon. Gentleman knows full well that we are protecting police budgets when the precept is taken into account, which is in sharp contrast to proposals from his Front-Bench team, who want to cut police budgets by 10%.

[Mr Barry Sheerman (Huddersfield) (Lab/Co-op)]

The Home Secretary might know that we are very pleased with our police and crime commissioner in West Yorkshire, but has she picked up from PCCs the problems with intelligence gathering in particular communities that are impenetrable owing to their language and culture? Police have real difficulty penetrating organised gangs.

[Mrs May]

There are obviously challenges in relation to dealing with certain communities with organised gangs where, as the hon. Gentleman says, there may well be language difficulties. Police and crime commissioners are finding many innovative ways around that. Looking at their recruitment policies and at how volunteers and special constables in particular can be used to ensure that the language skills are available is a very good idea, which has been adopted by some PCCs around the country.