Oral Answers to Questions

Kerry McCarthy Excerpts

Monday 23rd March 2015 Commons Chamber

[Lynne Featherstone]

The early intervention guidance for police will provide invaluable support in stopping potential criminals before they commit crimes, which will save the police a great deal of work in the long term. The guidance is already available online. We encourage all police officers, police community support officers, chief constables and PCCs to read it. I am happy to take up his suggestion if I have time, because the more officers have access to it, the better. I am sure that we can get it done before Thursday.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

11. What recent discussions she has had with police unions and associations on the effect of changes to police budgets on frontline staff.

[The Minister for Policing, Criminal Justice and Victims (Mike Penning)]

The Home Secretary and I hold regular bilateral meetings with police work force representatives. I have said since day one as the police Minister that my door is always open to those representatives.

[Kerry McCarthy]

The Minister will know, then, what pressure front-line policing is under. The Government promised to protect and even increase front-line policing numbers, yet 8,000 front-line jobs have gone. Why will the Home Office not look at alternative ways of saving money, such as introducing better procurement practices or scrapping police and crime commissioners, rather than pursuing plans to axe yet another 20,000 officers?

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister for Crime Prevention (Lynne Featherstone)]

It is very helpful when the local media join the campaign against what I term “lethal highs”. As I said earlier, the Government are drawing up proposals for a general ban on the supply of new psychoactive substances throughout the United Kingdom, with a view to introducing legislation at the earliest opportunity. Obviously there is not enough time left for us to legislate in the current Parliament. However, we have already banned more than 500 new drugs, created a forensic early warning system to identify new psychoactive substances in the UK, and supported law enforcement with the latest intelligence on new substances, and we are taking a number of actions in relation to health, prevention and treatment.

[Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East) (Lab)]

T8. The Minister told me a moment ago that there were more front-line police officers in Avon and Somerset. However, a report by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary tells me that the number is down by 10%, from 2,937 in March 2010 to 2,651 in March 2015. In what way is that “more”?

[Mike Penning]

I apologise if I misled the hon. Lady, but I am sure I said that we were taking staff out of the back rooms and putting more on the front line. There are more officers serving on the front line today than there were when the Labour Government left office.