Ministers pledge to get police back on beat

28th June 2010

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The government has pledged to bring back "common sense" to policing, freeing officers from bureaucracy and getting them out on the streets to fight crime.

Home Office minister Nick Herbert said that due to targets imposed by the previous Labour administration, officers were spending more time filling in forms rather than on patrol.

He said policemen and women had told him they wanted freedom to "do the job they are paid to do" and he pledged the government would make a "real difference" to them.

During Commons question time, Damian Collins (Con, Folkestone and Hythe) asked about recent representations received on the amount of time spent on administrative tasks by police officers each year.

He called on the minister to ensure that his priorities for the policing budget were to "support frontline police work in the community and not excessive bureaucracy".

In response, Herbert said : "I strongly agree with you. Every Labour home secretary promised to cut bureaucracy but the police still spend more time on paperwork than on patrol.

"We are determined to make a real difference here by dealing with the central targets that bedevil policing and ensure we do all that we can to protect the frontline."

Jackie Doyle-Price (Con, Thurrock) argued that freeing up police officers from bureacracy to spend more time on patrol would increase public feelings of safety.

Herbert said that the government are "determined to deal with the performance managing framework" and agreed that the public wanted more police out on the beat, not tied up with paperwork.

Home Affairs committee chair Keith Vaz said that the committee had argued that police should be out "on the beat" but also called for investment in new technology to provide policemen with handheld computers.

Vaz called on the government to defend the police budget.

Herbert recognised that new technology could indeed be useful in reducing bureaucracy.

Shadow home affairs minister David Hanson said that the police stop form had been stopped already by the previous Labour adminstration.

He asked how much money was expected to be saved from police bureaucracy over the next three years.

However he warned this would never be enough to make up for the 25 per cent cut being planned in the Home Office budget.

In response, Herbert said that again the Opposition had shown "no understanding" of the fiscal position that they had been left with.

He added that the government is "determined to protect the frontline".

Philip Davies (Con, Shipley) warned ministers against jumping on the "Liberty bandwagon" and said the cameras were an important tool in the fight against crime.

Davies suggested ministers should not follow the advice of civil liberties group Liberty, who have long called for tighter regulation of CCTV.

He told MPs: "CCTV cameras do not prevent anybody from going about their lawful daily business freely."

Home Office minister James Brokenshire responded that Davies had "underlined the "important role" that CCTV has in terms of policing.

He said: "CCTV use has developed in the absence of a specific regulatory framework and we believe it is important in terms of proportionality that regulation is taken forward."

Shadow Home Office minister Meg Hillier said the government had already shifted its position on CCTV.

She said: "On the one hand this government talks about reducing red tape and regulations for the police, yet it plans to regulate CCTV, possibly creating more hoops for the police who use this valuable tool.

"Will these plans to regulate CCTV actually lead to fewer CCTV cameras? You are fudging."

Brokenshire responded that Labour had established an interim CCTV regulator "thereby acknowledging and accepting that regulation is required and why this needs to be looked at very carefully".

He added: "We will be ensuring that regulation is brought forward which is proportionate, which is relevant and which enables CCTV systems to be established by local communities in an appropriate way."

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