Police Officer Reductions

Debate between Bill Esterson and Alun Michael

Wednesday 12th September 2012 Westminster Hall

[Alun Michael (Cardiff South and Penarth) (Lab/Co-op)]

My hon. Friend referred to prevention. Does he agree that our police officers work hard to fulfil the first and primary responsibility laid down by Robert Peel, which is to prevent crime, rather than only chasing after criminals? Does he also agree that it is greatly to the credit of the police that they do not whinge about their difficult situation but get on with the job? In a way, however, the effects of the reduced numbers to which my hon. Friend referred are therefore played down.

[Bill Esterson]

My right hon. Friend will make an excellent police and crime commissioner. I shall touch on the post for which he is standing a little later, but he is absolutely right that the police do get on with things. They soldier on regardless of what is put before them by politicians, and they try to make the best of a bad job—the record police cuts qualify as a bad job.

The record number of front-line police under the previous Government ensured that any inclination to crime that resulted from being out of work or short of money was challenged by the police because there were enough of them. A combination of prevention and enforcement therefore meant that crime continued to fall in a recession.

Now we have fewer police and worrying signs of a reverse in the levels of crime, following unprecedented cuts in funding, all at the expense of those at risk of suffering from crime up and down the country. So much for being tough on crime and tough on its causes—more like tough on the victims of crime, as they are the victims of a political dogma that sees the opportunity to cut the size of the state, not least policing.

People in my constituency want to see police on their streets, but 624 police officer posts will have been lost from the Merseyside force between 2010 and the end of 2012-13, as a direct result of the Government’s 20% cut in the police budget. A further 178 staff support posts will be lost over the same period. The Prime Minister promised to protect the front line, but that has not happened. It is no good Ministers blaming chief constables and police authorities. A 20% cut by the Government is not the fault of the police service. If they are so keen to cut the amount spent on police officers, why have they insisted, with due respect to my right hon. Friend, on a new bureaucracy that will cost more money to set up—money that could be spent on front-line officers? I am, of course, referring to police and crime commissioners.

The prospect of having Tory commissioners striding around their patches, lauding it over professional police officers, is not a happy one. I understand that Tory candidates plan to have their own uniforms, like some latter-day sheriff of Nottingham, although I hope that the people of Nottinghamshire will have the good sense to vote Labour in the elections on 15 November, to avoid the dreadful prospect of a series of Tory commissioners playing at cops and robbers.

I turn to another part of the police service and the excellent men and women who also contributed to the cuts in crime that we saw under the previous Government. I mentioned them earlier. Police community support officers are a key part of neighbourhood policing, which makes a big difference through the relationships that they and their police constable colleagues can build and in their work in crime prevention and helping to create productive activities, particularly for young people, often directing them away from crime and antisocial behaviour.

From April 2013, funding for PCSOs will no longer be ring-fenced. In my view they are essential to the success of neighbourhood policing, but given the massive cuts being made by the Government, it will be very difficult for chief constables to keep the current number of PCSOs. On Merseyside, only one local authority has been able to continue its funding of PCSOs in support of the police authority funding. Local government has also been clobbered by this Government of course, and it is no surprise that councils such as mine in Sefton had to end their funding for PCSOs several years ago.

In 2011, a Unison campaign to protect PCSOs in Lancashire obtained more than 5,000 signatures from the public and created supporting motions in the House of Lords. Council leaders responded to such a groundswell of opinion throughout Lancashire by agreeing to continue to support funding to keep PCSOs on their streets.

What is happening to police services, as the police make the cuts imposed on them? Some 75% of front desks have closed in Merseyside and Lancashire alone, resulting in significant loss of direct service to communities and of long-serving staff who have built up local knowledge and connections that will not be replaced. In my constituency, front desks in both Formby and Maghull have closed. Many people, especially elderly people, feel safer when they know there is a police station round the corner that they can go to, even if they do not use it often. People do not always like to use the phone, or have a car to go to a police station miles away.

One third of custody suites have also closed throughout Merseyside. There are also concerns about forensic science and fingerprint services. The concern raised with me is that there will be a significant reduction in police staff and loss of a highly skilled work force in services that play a major part in catching criminals. Potential closure of those specialist services is in advance of a national review that is due to make its own recommendations for all forces to implement.

Next on the list are control room staff. The 999 and general inquiry services are experiencing high turnover of staff in north-west England, resulting in the use of transient, inexperienced agency workers. Forces such as Cheshire have evidence of low morale in this group, which is forced to work to unrealistic Government targets on call time allocation and other indicators. Some police services are considering outsourcing, which will increase the risk of having staff without the local knowledge and relationships needed to ensure that such work retains its focus, despite targets, on the proper response that the public need, not on statistics or profits. That reminds me that the Government are closing coastguard stations around the country, including the one in my constituency, to make way for two super-national call centres that will have no local knowledge. Service and safety are being sacrificed in the coastguard service, and it seems that the same may be happening in the police service.

Police services throughout the country have no option other than to deliver the Government’s cuts agenda. Chief constables say that many of the jobs that go in the various specialisms will be have to be done by police officers, who will therefore spend less time on the beat and more time in an office, with the added expense that that will incur. That will add to the already sizeable reductions in the number of police on the beat.

The biggest cuts have been in the poorest areas. As with the fire service and local government, the metropolitan areas have had the biggest cuts. A 20% cut in Government grant across the board hits those with the lowest council tax base hardest, because grant makes up a bigger proportion of the total finance available.

I met representatives of the Merseyside Police Federation who told me that the Government’s cuts to the force are dangerous. The federation warned me that Merseyside police will be

“significantly affected by the 20% cut in police budgets imposed upon police forces”.

The effect of the Government’s cuts on the police has been even greater in Merseyside, as I demonstrated, because of how the police budget is calculated. The ration of funding to the police is dependent on the demographics of the area. Merseyside is funded with 83% Government grant and 17% council tax precept. Surrey is funded with around 50% Government grant and 50% precept, on account of the relative wealth in the area.

The Government’s decision to slash its police funding by 20% has a greater impact on areas with more deprivation than on more affluent areas, particularly those down south. As a result, Merseyside police are being hit particularly hard by the cuts. Merseyside is set to lose 650 police officers, as well as 103 police community support officers and 452 civilian staff, because it must lose £61.4 million from its budget over the next four years.

The Police Federation tells me that Merseyside has already lost around 500 of the 600 police officers due to be lost through the process of natural wastage and a recruitment freeze. The police authority is doing its utmost to make savings to counter the loss of such a large number of officers. This week, it was announced that 40 new officers are being taken on because of the savings that have been made, but that is a drop in the ocean considering the losses that Merseyside police has experienced. Forty gains against 600 losses is a pretty bleak score card, and Merseyside police still face losses because of the huge savings in the next few years.

One of my major concerns is that the excellent work by Merseyside police officers in recent years, particularly in reducing crime rates, will be reversed. Merseyside police have taken great strides in combating crime rates over the past decade, but the Police Federation believes that it is inevitable that crime and disorder throughout Merseyside will rise, so turning round the continuous reduction that has been witnessed in recent years. I have spoken to officers who warn that the cuts are dangerous and will lead to a rise in crime. The Government need to know the damage that they are doing to policing in Merseyside. The result will be not just a rise in crime, but an increase in the fear of crime in our communities.

I said that I would look at the evidence, which is found in the figures produced by the Home Office and in what police officers say when responding to surveys. A survey by the Police Federation shows that police officers in England and Wales believe that the Government’s cut of 20% in the police budget over the next four years and the reduction in police officer numbers will have a detrimental effect on crime and result in the public receiving a poorer service. That is what police officers say. The evidence is also found in what the Police Federation says, in the experience of the public through the loss of front desks, police officers and PCSOs on the beat and in the increase in crime.

In Lancashire, the acting chief constable, Chris Weigh, told the Lancashire Evening Post that his force was taking 513 police officers off the streets and that that had led to an inevitable increase in the number of offences. The force has an annual budget of £287 million and must save £42 million over four years. Mr Weigh described how he has been tackling burglaries in the county and how his officers had tackled burglary spikes last year. He asked how much longer special operations can continue to be employed to target burglary, when resources are falling. Figures released in April show that serious acquisitive crime in Lancashire rose by 8%, house burglaries were up by 8.4%, vehicle crime was up by 6.4% and assault without injury was up by 15%. The acting chief constable said that there has been

“a genuine, real increase in offending”.

That was confirmed by the chair of the Lancashire Police Federation, Rachel Baines, who said:

“It is the inevitable result. Officers are being hit from every angle.”

In just two years, the Government have cut police numbers back to what they were nearly a decade ago, weakened police powers, undermined morale and reduced crime prevention. What is required is a change of course and for the Government to implement a proper plan to cut crime, not police officers. We need real change from the Government to make our streets safer. Neighbourhood policing must be prioritised, antisocial behaviour must be taken seriously and the causes of crime need to be tackled, with police and local authorities working together. We should ensure that there is no privatisation of core policing and that strong communities are built, with respect to all, and responsibility by all.

I welcome the Minister to his post today. I hope that his response will provide confidence to my community and others around the country that he will listen and act, not only on the points that I have made today, but on what the police and public say about the need to reverse police cuts.