Policing

Wayne David Excerpts

Wednesday 24th October 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hanson]

I do not know where the hon. Gentleman has been for the past 100 years, but police authorities did have elected members chairing those committees.

I will talk about the Labour party’s approach to police and crime commissioner elections, but first let me finish looking at where we are in relation to the election on 15 November. Today is 24 October, yet Parliament has not yet approved the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Welsh Forms) Order 2012, item 21 on today’s Order Paper. That election is to take place three weeks tomorrow. This very day, the answer from the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice to a question that I tabled has been published in which it is revealed that his decision not to lay that order has cost you, Madam Deputy Speaker, me and every other Member of this House as taxpayers an extra £350,000. That is the cost of this Government’s failure to lay an order which should have been laid by law—not by choice; by law. It is a legal requirement to have election ballot papers in English and Welsh in Wales, but this Government have not yet laid the relevant order, even though the election is happening three weeks tomorrow. Returning officers in my constituency and throughout Wales have had to print two sets of ballot papers, at a cost of £350,000.

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

What my right hon. Friend is describing is truly shocking—a huge waste of public money through Government incompetence. Does he agree that this is the first time in electoral history that a Government have had to destroy ballot papers before an election?

--- Later in debate ---

[Damian Green]

No. The right hon. Gentleman should listen to what I say. The claim is, I think, that forces are facing 20% cuts, but no force is facing cuts of that level. As he knows as well as anyone in the country, the police service receives about a quarter of its income from the police precept element of council tax, the exact proportion—[Interruption.] I am glad that I am able to educate the Labour party about how the police are funded in this country. That funding is not all from the Home Office; some of it comes from the police precept. As the right hon. Gentleman and, I hope, those on the Opposition Front Bench know—although there is no evidence that they do—the exact proportion that comes from the precept varies from force to force, and the level at which it is set is, I stress, a matter for individual police and crime commissioners to decide. In short, no force has seen anything like a 20% cash reduction.

We on this side of the House have long argued that there is no simple link between police numbers and crime rates, and I am happy that that view is shared by the Home Affairs Committee. The figures I have quoted show that that view is correct and widely accepted—the one place it has not yet been accepted is inside the Labour party.

Let me turn to the elections for police and crime commissioners. On this side of the House, we are getting behind our candidates and campaigning hard to ensure that the elections are a success and that the public get the PCCs they deserve—hard-working, dedicated people who want to deliver for their communities and improve policing. Opposition Members should decide whether they support or oppose the elections. I assume that they support them, and I am delighted that the right hon. Member for Delyn has said that he does. A huge number of former Labour Ministers are standing, determined to make 15 November the night of the living retreads.

The confusion on the Opposition Benches is summed up with a pleasing touch of nostalgia by a dispute between Blair and Prescott. Prescott is having an argument with a new Blair, Lord Blair, who is arguing that people should not vote—I think that is disgraceful, and I hope the Labour party will agree that to tell people not to vote in a democratic election is deplorable. [Interruption.] I am glad that the right hon. Member for Delyn disagrees with Lord Blair. I hope that will continue and that everyone in the Labour party will condemn Lord Blair for what he said, not least because, as we have seen in recent articles, Lord Prescott is—of course—campaigning in his unique and energetic fashion around Humberside.

The introduction of PCCs is the most significant democratic reform of policing ever. It will introduce greater transparency and accountability to a service of which we are all rightly proud, but which can sometimes be too distant from the public it serves and fail to reflect adequately their concerns and priorities. As I told the House in a debate last week, only 7% of the public know what a police authority is. That figure represents a huge failure in democratic accountability, because it is the job of a police authority—as it will be of a PCC—to spend the public’s money in a way that guarantees that the police in that area are doing what the public need. It is impossible to do that when 93% of the public do not even know what police authorities are.

[Wayne David]

rose—

[Bridget Phillipson]

rose—

[Damian Green]

I am spoilt for choice but I think that the hon. Lady has had a go, so I will give way to the hon. Gentleman.

[Wayne David]

Does the Minister agree with the Minister of State in the Home Department who said at the Liberal Democrat conference that a turnout out of 20% in elections for PCCs would, “not be good”?

[Damian Green]

My hon. Friend will speak later in the debate, and can no doubt speak for himself. Up to now, and until next month, the public have been unable to do anything about the failures of police authorities. PCCs will have a clear incentive to perform better than that, because if they fail to represent their communities, engage properly and deliver on their priorities, the public will tell them what they think at the ballot box.

Policing matters to the public and people want their forces to respond to their concerns. The advertising campaign that the Home Office has been running this month will be seen by 85% of the public. It tells them how to get more information—[Interruption.] Labour Members have problems with people getting information online, but people can get information online at www.choosemypcc.org.uk, and anyone who wants a printed booklet can get one by calling the freephone number from the advert. Everyone registered to vote will also get the number on a polling card through their door, and the Electoral Commission is writing to each household with information on how to vote. Whatever the Opposition want to say, no one who wants information in the elections will be denied it.

--- Later in debate ---

[Wayne David (Caerphilly) (Lab)]

Regardless of how we voted on the question of the introduction of police and crime commissioners, all Members on both sides of the House agree that we must do everything possible to ensure that there is a reasonable turnout on 15 November. It worries me that a range of people have expressed deep concern about the turnout. The Electoral Reform Society believes that it may be only 18.5%, which, it says, would constitute an historic low. However, as a number of Members have pointed out, that does not mean that people are not concerned about the issue of policing; in fact, they are deeply concerned about it.

In my constituency, people fear that there could well be a cut of some 20% in police funding over the next few years. They want to see more, not less, neighbourhood policing. They are also deeply worried about the lack of consultation on the closing of front desks in police stations: they want to see consultation on whether resources are being used effectively. They are also worried about the antisocial behaviour that still blights a number of our communities.

Only the other week, I attended a public meeting in a community called Graig-y-Rhacca. Those decent, hard-working people are still blighted by the activities of a relatively small number of persistent offenders, and they want to see more policing in their community, not less. Those issues have been brought to my attention because I am the local Member of Parliament, but they have also been brought to the attention of the excellent Labour PCC candidate, Hamish Sandison, who is doing a very good job in travelling around the Gwent police area as much as possible.

We all know that the Electoral Commission is sending pamphlets to every household in the country, and that is commendable. However, I fear that the Home Office website will be very limited, and that it will not be supplemented by other information disseminated directly to individual households. As we have heard, some 7 million people will be excluded from getting that information directly because they do not have access to the internet.

The Government have produced advertisements over the last few weeks. I hope that they increase awareness, but it must be said that there is concern about the way in which they depict young people, and also that they are giving some people the impression that the PCCs will have more powers than will actually be the case. We know that the PCCs will have no responsibility for operational matters, but will make the chief constables accountable for them, and will themselves engage in wider strategic and funding issues. However, the advertisements do not make that clear.

I now want to focus on the fiasco—for it is a fiasco—of the bilingual ballot forms, partly because it is important in itself but also because, I fear, it is indicative of the wider, ham-fisted approach of the Home Office to the elections. The Opposition said some 12 months ago that there was a need for a statutory instrument—a piece of secondary legislation—to come before this House to enable bilingual Welsh and English ballot papers to be provided for the elections. Our advice was ignored. The result was that a few weeks ago the Home Office suddenly woke up to the fact that it could not have English-only ballot papers in Wales and belatedly introduced a piece of secondary legislation. However, it is not absolutely certain that there will be enough time to get it through. Therefore, all the authorities in Wales have been told that there should be two sets of ballot papers—one in English and one in English and Welsh—at a cost of £350,000 extra. The cost will be paid by the Government—it will be taxpayers’ money—which is a total waste of money. It is the first time that ballot papers will be thrown in the bin before an election.

That, I fear, is indicative of how the Government have approached this whole election—a lack of planning and a lack of strategy. I very much hope, even at this belated moment, that the Government will provide more resources for the elections, so that more people are aware of them and will come out and vote.