Daniel Morgan Independent Panel Report

Lord Storey Excerpts

Thursday 24th March 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

I think there is no doubt that that is the conclusion that all in this House have reached. I have talked about the various inspections that are going on, but I also want to come back to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, and pay tribute to most members of the Metropolitan Police, who do a fantastic job; we were just commemorating the anniversary of the death of PC Palmer the other day. Most police do an excellent job, but there is so much work to be done to restore confidence and trust in the police.

[Lord Storey (LD)]

My Lords, obviously, our thoughts are with Daniel Morgan’s family. I speak as somebody who does not have detailed knowledge of policing. Like, I guess, millions of people, I find the situation difficult to understand. In our schools, for example—the area where I come from—nobody is allowed to work unless they have a safeguarding qualification, a DBS safeguarding check. However, we hear that police officers and people working in the police service do not necessarily have that check. Nobody would be allowed to work in a school if they had a criminal record, and yet we find that some police and ancillary staff have criminal records. If it happened in a school, the head teacher or the principal would be immediately disciplined. Why does this happen in the Met? It is not difficult to ensure that everyone has a safeguarding qualification or to check that everybody does not have a police record—and if they do, they should not be there. Somebody has to take responsibility, and if that responsibility is taken, the person who allowed that has to step down.

[Baroness Williams of Trafford (Con)]

On the back of all the discussions we have been having today, it is written in statute that within 56 days the Mayor of London and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police will have to respond with an action plan to deal with all the issues we have talked about today. There will be an expectation that the recommendations be carried out within 12 months. In fact, the Home Secretary has made it clear that such is the seriousness of this that she hopes that some of that action plan will be taken forward within the 56 days.