Oral Answers to Questions

John Baron Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs May]

We are looking at the whole issue of strengthening police enforcement, and one of the things we are doing is undertaking a number of exercises—an example has been seen in the north-east in recent weeks—where the police have strengthened their enforcement and gone into scrap metal dealers where they believe rogue dealing is taking place.

[Mr John Baron (Basildon and Billericay) (Con)]

14. What plans she has to reduce administrative burdens on police forces.

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

We have already announced a package of policies to reduce bureaucracy, saving up to 3.3 million hours of police time.

[Mr Baron]

Published reports confirm that under the previous Government only 11% of police officers were visible and/or available to the public at any one time. May I therefore urge my right hon. Friend to continue hacking away at the swathes of bureaucratic paperwork and release more officers for the front line?

[Nick Herbert]

We will do so, and I agree with my hon. Friend. We know from the inspectorate’s report that the level of availability and visibility of officers in the poorest performing forces was half that of the best. So there is room for improvement, even as resources decline, if the front line is prioritised, and the reductions in bureaucracy that we have announced will save 1,500 hours of officer time, showing how important the agenda is.