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Police Manpower
18. Mr. David Amess (Southend, West): What criteria he uses for setting targets for police (a) manpower and (b) ethnic recruitment. [80969]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Paul Boateng): We do not set targets for overall police numbers. It is for chief constables to determine the number of officers in their forces. Targets have, however, been set for the recruitment, retention and progression of ethnic minority officers. Forces have been set individual targets with the aim that the proportion of ethnic minority officers in each force should match that of the local ethnic minority population. Once those targets have been achieved, forces will be expected to set a continuing target of recruitment in line with the make-up of the local population.
Mr. Amess: Is the Minister aware that a growing number of my constituents feel that the Government are soft on crime, and soft on the causes of crime? How can the Home Secretary set targets for recruitment of ethnic officers in each police force without setting targets for the overall number? Can the Minister explain why the chief constable of Essex told me when I met him that, contrary to what the Home Secretary told me at the last Home Office Question Time, there has been a 1.7 per cent. cut in the force's overall funding? In addition, the Home Secretary's 10-year target means that no extra policemen will be recruited in Essex for at least three years.
Mr. Boateng: The hon. Gentleman's perception of his constituents' views has not improved since he left Basildon. Far from our cutting police expenditure in Essex, total spending in the current financial year will be £171.5 million, which is 3.2 per cent. more than would have been provided last year by the budget set by the Conservative party. That is progress under new Labour. We are tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime, and that is much appreciated in Essex, as the hon. Gentleman knows to his cost.
Ms Sally Keeble (Northampton, North): Is my hon. Friend aware that Northamptonshire police have welcomed target setting and have been successful in recruiting black and ethnic minority officers of high profile and high quality? However, the force has raised the need for targets among support staff, including, for example, crossing patrols--lollipop ladies. Not only are such posts often the first point of contact for the public with the police, but black and ethnic minority people must have as much access as white people to the high-quality support jobs that exist.
Mr. Boateng: Northamptonshire, police are to be congratulated on their efforts, and they have much to
teach us all about achieving success in recruitment without diminishing in any way the quality of applicants. My hon. Friend and Northamptonshire police make an important point about the role of support staff, and we shall take it on board as we develop future policy.
Sir Norman Fowler (Sutton Coldfield): As the Minister knows, we support more recruitment from ethnic minorities. However, as my hon. Friend the Member for Southend, West (Mr. Amess) said, there have already been reductions in the strength of police forces throughout the country. Will the Minister admit what chief constables, the Police Federation and police authorities say--that further cuts in the service are inevitable over the next two or three years on current policy? Are not such cuts against the public interest?
Mr. Boateng: On the contrary, we are supporting chief constables in their operational capacity to determine the level of police manpower that serves the needs of the local community. The power to set levels and numbers of police was a power that the previous Conservative Government reduced and removed from the Government of the day. We have a duty to do what we are doing, which is to support chief constables by a settlement that brings an additional £1.24 billion to the policing of our country. That is something that chief constables welcome. We are giving them the power to do the job--power that they never received under the previous Conservative Government.
Metropolitan Police
20. Mr. David Crausby (Bolton, North-East): What he is doing to enhance the recruitment, retention and promotion of black and Asian police officers in the Metropolitan police force. [80971]
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Kate Hoey): My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary held a conference on the recruitment, retention and progression of black and Asian police officers, at which he announced the targets that he would be setting for individual police forces throughout England and Wales, including the Metropolitan police.
The conference was attended by the majority of senior police officers and police authority chairs, and by members of the National Black Police Association. It looked at recruitment, retention and promotion and attempted to identify barriers within existing procedures that could adversely impact on ethnic minority officers. As a result of the conference, the Home Office will be developing a national strategy to help achieve those targets, which will be issued to all police forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan police, and to members of the National Black Police Association.
Mr. Crausby:
I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Does she agree that the Government and metropolitan police forces throughout the country face a mammoth task in persuading black and Asian men and women that the police force offers them a genuinely rewarding career?
Kate Hoey:
I agree with my hon. Friend. It will be a massive task, but the police--in particular the Metropolitan police, who already have their own programme of work to tackle the recruitment, retention
Dr. Evan Harris (Oxford, West and Abingdon):
Does the Minister feel that the recruitment of settled ethnic minority candidates to the police force will be enhanced by the fact that their immigration status will be checked by their prospective employers under section 8 of the Asylum and Immigration Act 1996--a measure which the hon. Lady was pledged to repeal when in opposition and which the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux and the Commission for Racial Equality have made clear has increased the amount of discrimination in employment practice?
Kate Hoey:
The hon. Gentleman makes a ridiculous point and when he reads what he has said in Hansard, he will realise that. We must all unite to ensure that all people in ethnic minority communities are encouraged and persuaded to join the police force so that it is representative of society as a whole.
21. Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North):
What recent representations he has received about changes to the voting system for election to the House of Commons. [80972]
The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Jack Straw):
We have received a number of representations, both for and against changing the voting system for elections to the House of Commons.
Mr. Winnick:
Is my right hon. Friend aware that I do not have much enthusiasm for any change in the voting system for elections to the House? Is it not a fact that, in the recent referendum in Italy, those who bothered to vote--the majority of the electorate did not--voted overwhelmingly to bring back a system similar to the one that we use in Britain?
Mr. Straw:
The turnout in the Italian referendum was 49.6 per cent. and of those--just under 50 per cent.--90 per cent. voted in favour of a change towards the first-past- the-post system--which is a consideration to be borne in mind.
Mr. Michael Fabricant (Lichfield):
Is the Home Secretary aware that Italy is not alone in this? Israel is also considering moving to a first-past-the-post system because proportional representation leads to weak and ineffective government.
Mr. Straw:
I am aware of some concerns in Israel about the system there. I have also noted that even the most evangelical supporters of proportional representation in this country have not gone as far as to recommend the Israeli system.
Police (Inefficiency)
22. Mr. Jim Cunningham (Coventry, South): What progress police forces are making in reducing waste and inefficiency. [80973]
The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. Paul Boateng): Improving police efficiency and effectiveness are key Government priorities. It is vital that the public get the best possible value from the money spent on policing. Our comprehensive spending review set the police a target of 2 per cent. year-on-year efficiency gains. We expect those targets to be met and the resources so released to help improve delivery of national and local front-line policing priorities.
Mr. Cunningham: I know that the police are mainly responsible for operational matters, but will the Minister talk to the West Midlands police, because there is concern in the Styvechle area about the Fletchamstead highway police station, whose hours are being reduced? I am sure that he knows that there have been several recent incidents in that area.
Mr. Boateng: I thank my hon. Friend for drawing that to my attention. I have every confidence in the capacity of the chief constable to meet the operational needs of the local community. He is doing a good job. We are grateful to my hon. Friend for his support for the local police. We will continue to support him and the police in Coventry in doing their job of reducing and preventing crime.
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