Oral Answers to Questions

Kit Malthouse Excerpts

Monday 22nd November 2021 Commons Chamber

[Siobhan Baillie (Stroud) (Con)]

12. What steps her Department is taking to support special constables.

[The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)]

I am sure you agree with me, Mr Speaker, that special constables are among the most remarkable citizens in the land. We are bringing forward legislation to enable them to become members of the Police Federation, so that they can access the same support and protection as regular officers. We will also be introducing the police covenant in legislation shortly to ensure further support and protection for the police workforce, including special constables.

[Siobhan Baillie]

I thank the Minister for his answer. Special constables are often on shift during the busiest periods, as they tend to volunteer at weekends and in the evenings, and as a result are exposed to quite high levels of trauma. I give credit to the Stroud special constables, and ask what my right hon. Friend is doing specifically and actively to support their training for and meet the mental health needs of their unique roles?

[Kit Malthouse]

I am grateful for the fact that the welfare of this special—in every sense of the word—group of people is at the forefront of my hon. Friend’s mind. She will be pleased to know that the Government continue to fund the national police wellbeing service, which provides support and particularly post-traumatic incident services to all police officers, including special constables. As I said in the earlier part of my answer, there is more that can be done, and by making sure that all special constables are full members of the Police Federation, they will be able to access the significant support that that organisation can provide.

[Kim Leadbeater (Batley and Spen) (Lab)]

13. What steps she is taking to (a) tackle antisocial behaviour and (b) support victims of antisocial behaviour.

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[Danny Kruger (Devizes) (Con)]

24. What progress her Department has made on tackling county lines drugs gangs.

[The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)]

The Prime Minister issued an instruction that we should roll up county lines, and that is exactly what we have been doing for the last two years. Since 2019, we have invested over £65 million, including over £40 million committed this year. This has already resulted in the closure of more than 1,500 lines, over 7,400 arrests and the safeguarding of more than 4,000 vulnerable adults and children.

[Cherilyn Mackrory]

I thank the Minister for his answer. I was very pleased, recently, that a county lines dealer who had been flooding towns across Cornwall, including Truro, with drugs was jailed for five and a half years. There is a lot more to do in Cornwall, because we are seeing an increase in the impact of county lines drugs activity and all the crimes that go with it. Can the Minister confirm that the Government are aware of the issues in Cornwall and assure me that they are committed to working with our brilliant police and crime commissioner, Alison Hernandez, and the six Cornish MPs to address the continued problems, in particular how the Government can support the wider roll-out of Project ADDER?

[Kit Malthouse]

I am focused on the impact of drugs across the whole country, and particularly in areas such as Devon and Cornwall, where I know the chief constable, and Alison Hernandez, the police and crime commissioner, have been doing an enormous amount of work. This problem is so prevalent across the United Kingdom that every part has to work together, and I am pleased that Devon and Cornwall Police have been working closely, particularly with the Metropolitan Police and Merseyside Police, which are the two key exporting forces for drugs into my hon. Friend’s area. She might be interested to know that recently the British Transport Police, which plays a critical part in gripping the network that distributes the drugs, conducted a fixed-point pilot at Basingstoke Station. It intercepted drugs that were heading towards her constituency, and I hope she will soon feel the effects of that.

[Danny Kruger]

May I echo the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Truro and Falmouth (Cherilyn Mackrory)? There have been very successful disruptions to county lines in my Wiltshire constituency, and I pay tribute to Philip Wilkinson, the police and crime commissioner, and to Wiltshire Police. It is great that they can work in partnership with all the Conservative PCCs across our region, and with the Government. The challenge now is to move one level down, below the cities to the market towns and rural areas, which is where the problem with drugs really manifests itself in my area. Will the Minister continue the efforts on county lines, and ensure real support for local efforts at disruption, not just at regional level?

[Kit Malthouse]

My hon. Friend is exactly right, and as my constituency neighbour he feels the same impact on our rural towns and villages as I do. He is right: as I said earlier, this is such a comprehensive problem that market towns and villages must work with large urban areas, and we have to grip the transport network in between. Particularly key is that we aim to take out those who perpetrate this “business” while sitting in the comfort of their homes in a city. The great development in our effort against county lines has been the ability of the police in Liverpool, west midlands and London—the three big exporting areas—to find those guys and take them out.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

17. What progress she has made on resettling refugees under the UK resettlement scheme.

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[Craig Williams (Montgomeryshire) (Con)]

T9. I thank my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary for the work that she is doing on prosecuting those who participate in county lines drugs. We need cross-party consensus in dealing with dangerous drug gangs in our country, so does she share my disappointment that the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Home Secretary are backing a policy of not prosecuting those who are found in possession of class A drugs such as heroin, crystal meth and crack cocaine? May I draw her on the issue, and on our party’s approach to dealing with it?

[The Minister for Crime and Policing (Kit Malthouse)]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There should be no room for confusion in people’s minds: drugs are bad in all their forms, and this Government will do everything we can to restrict supply and deal with demand.

[Abena Oppong-Asare (Erith and Thames-mead) (Lab)]

T5. Sistah Space supports black women and girls who have experienced domestic violence. It is campaigning for Valerie’s law, which would introduce mandatory training for police and other agencies, including on dealing with domestic violence in black communities. Will the Minister meet me and Sistah Space to discuss this important issue before the upcoming petitions debate?

[John Penrose (Weston-super-Mare) (Con)]

T10. Does the Home Secretary agree that successive studies, including even the 2017 Lammy review, have concluded that improving trust in—and the legitimacy of—our law enforcement officials and institutions, particularly in communities where those have historically been low, is essential to reducing crime everywhere? What further steps does she therefore intend to take to level up in that vital area?

[Kit Malthouse]

My hon. Friend is right, and he will know that through the Uplift programme we are pushing hard to increase the diversity of UK policing so that the police force looks like the population whom it seeks to protect and represent. We have instituted a review of vetting across policing and, indeed, wider work on police integrity generally, but we are also talking to police leaders about the signal that they send internally within the force to create a culture that inspires trust and a sense of integrity in the British people. I should add that it is important that the police fulfil the basic expectations of every single subject in this land, and in doing so inspire the trust that my hon. Friend seeks.

[Stephen Farry (North Down) (Alliance)]

T6. A harsh winter is about to hit Afghanistan, and the United Nations estimates that 23 million people will be at risk of famine. Surely it is a major dereliction of duty for the Government not to have the Afghanistan resettlement scheme in place. Many people have been left in limbo as a result, and aid agencies are looking for answers in respect of what is going to happen.