Police: Racism

Lord Dear Excerpts

Wednesday 25th April 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Henley]

The noble Lord makes a very important point about the problems that we are dealing with. What I want to get over is that we do not believe that the police are institutionally racist. It is very encouraging that in the case of the recent allegations the police officers themselves reported that issue, and it is evidence of the fact that there is no institutional racism in the police force. Obviously, cases will nevertheless come to light from time to time, and they must be dealt with in the most appropriate manner. That is why we are looking at the leadership of all police forces, and why we want ACPO and the Met to do their bit and the Mayor of London to do his bit—and in future we want police commissioners to do their bit—to make sure that racism is tackled at every possible level.

[Lord Dear]

My Lords, I am sure that we all deplore racism and discrimination wherever it occurs, particularly in organisations as pivotal as the police service, which can intervene and interfere in everyday life. I have two questions for the Minister, both concerning leadership, which have already been mentioned tangentially. Will he agree with me on the Floor of the House that in any organisation, and particularly in the police, leadership is absolutely key in influencing the culture of the service—its standards, ethics and so on? If he does agree, as I am sure he will, will he then go further and agree with me that part two of the recently published report from Mr Tom Winsor presents a golden and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seize the issue of police recruitment of top-level people and their advancement into rank at an early stage, that it will remain at the top of the Home Office agenda, and that there is a real will to continue to pursue that to its final conclusion?

[Lord Henley]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dear, for emphasising the importance with which we see the role of leadership within the police force in dealing with these matters and getting the culture right. I hope that will continue. As regards his second point about Winsor, I agree with him on that and we will pursue it. However, I believe that a degree more consultation is needed, and we will certainly do that in due course.