House of Commons Hansard Debates for 10 Feb 2000 (pt 34)

ROYAL ASSENT

Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Michael J. Martin): I have to notify the House, in accordance with the Royal Assent Act 1967, that the Queen has signified Her Royal Assent to the following Acts:

Northern Ireland Act 2000

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Eriskay Causeway) Order Confirmation Act 2000

United Reformed Church Act 2000

Alliance & Leicester plc (Group Reorganisation) Act 2000

Baxi Partnership Limited Trusts Act 2000

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Police Funding (Lincolnshire)

Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.--[Mr. Betts.]

7.2 pm

Mr. Edward Leigh (Gainsborough): I want to examine how the Government are supporting the Lincolnshire police, which is a subject of importance and interest to the people of Lincolnshire. The first duty of any Government is to protect the people and ensure that they enjoy their freedom under the law, safe in their own homes and on the streets. The burden on the Government is to ensure that, within necessarily limited resources, all parts of the country, urban and rural, are given a fair deal on public services, including the police.

The facts speak for themselves: Lincolnshire does not get a fair deal on police funding. That is not party rhetoric. It is based firmly on the facts. Lincolnshire covers about 2,800 square miles, with a population of 620,000. By area it is the fifth largest police force in England. The population is evenly and widely dispersed over 504 parishes. During the summer months there is an influx of tourists heading towards the coast. The population is disproportionately elderly. One in five will over be 65 by 2007. The fear of crime is particularly high among the elderly. In rural areas, burglary--the cruel invasion of one's home that is particularly upsetting to older people--is a real problem.

Sadly, Lincolnshire is in the third quartile nationally for burglary. Rural villages suffer from vandalism and petty theft. Villagers demand a greater police presence which cannot currently be delivered. The standard spending assessment--what the Government think that Lincolnshire should spend on the police--is £62.6 million. If the police authority agreed to spend at that figure, we would have between 150 and 200 fewer police officers and policing in Lincolnshire would be in crisis. The police authority breaks the limit, spending £69.7 million, which is 11.3 per cent. more.

Mr. Douglas Hogg (Sleaford and North Hykeham): I am sure that my hon. Friend is aware that between March and September 1999 the number of officers in Lincolnshire fell by 29. He will be further aware that between April 1997 and the end of 1999, there was a total fall in numbers of about 40 officers. Does not that suggest that we need the Government to introduce the sparsity factor into the formula, as recommended by their independent consultants?

Mr. Leigh: I am grateful to my right hon. and learned Friend because he has raised that issue on several occasions and made some important points about manpower in the Lincolnshire police force. I will come back to that subject in a moment.

The result of the overspend above SSA is inevitable. It means that Lincolnshire people pay more than people elsewhere, and they get less. That is our central problem. Lincolnshire's council tax at band D is £81, compared with the standard council tax of £50. We are top of the league in levels of council tax, but pay in our area is often low compared with national rates.

For all that the council tax is high, we still suffer from poor levels of policing. The population is served by just one police officer for every 535 people, which is one of the

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poorest ratios in the country. There are just 1.97 officers per hectare, compared to a national average of 8.25. In plain speak, Lincolnshire police are overstretched and undermanned. They have to chase their tails over a huge area.

Gillian Merron (Lincoln): I wish to draw the hon. Gentleman's attention to a couple of brief points. First, Lincolnshire has seen--I am delighted to say--the biggest decrease in crime in the east midlands. Secondly, the chief constable, Richard Childs, said only last month that one of the best ways to explain that reduction is the hard work put into multi-agency efforts to tackle crime and the causes of crime. Does not Lincolnshire's record show that the Government have set a winning formula with Lincolnshire's police?

Mr. Leigh: I am glad that the hon. Lady mentions the chief constable. I am also delighted that my hon. Friend the Member for Grantham and Stamford (Mr. Davies), who takes a keen interest in these matters, is now in his place.

The chief constable has made it clear that he supports our campaign to increase the funding formula because he thinks that it is unfair. We hope that the hon. Lady will join that campaign. Of course I welcome a fall in recorded crime, but it is still too high. When I talked to the mayor of Gainsborough last week, his view was that in certain areas it is so difficult to get a quick police response that people often do not report crime, and that is something that greatly concerns him.

In 1998-99, Lincolnshire received the lowest police grant per head of population. That is worrying. The Minister may argue when he replies that the Home Secretary's crime fighting bids are the answer to our problems, and of course we welcome 41 extra police officers. However, the real issue is that the formula used by the Government in working out the grant is simply unfair. It does not take adequate account of the sparsity factor and the rural nature of our county.

In any event, the 1,000 extra police officers that were announced do not make up for the 1,700 officers lost nationally since the general election. As my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham (Mr. Hogg) made clear earlier, we have also lost police officers in Lincolnshire. The Government's announcement yesterday will not solve the problem. The chief constable, my hon. Friends and the police authority agree with me, but more importantly that is also the view of the report that the Government commissioned into the problem. The ORH report provides conclusive evidence of the additional costs placed on Lincolnshire and recommends an adjustment to the formula. If that was implemented, Lincolnshire's SSA would immediately rise by £2.2 million.

Successive Labour Ministers have promised that they would respond to the findings of their research. First, it was the right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael)--now the ex-First Minister in Wales--when he was the Minister responsible. Then the right hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng), when he was the Minister responsible, promised that the Government would implement the report. He said that the recognition of the significance of sparsity as an effective needs formula drew support from both sides of the House. We want to know that the Minister now accepts the conclusion of the Government's report.

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It gets worse. The research was delayed by the Government in 1997 owing to an alleged lack of funds, despite an offer from the rural authorities to fund the report. Ministers now say that they cannot implement the report because they have conveniently imposed a moratorium, or freeze, on changing the funding formula for the police. However, this unilateral freeze was imposed after the research commenced, and the results were originally promised for the current year's settlement for 1999-2000. As such, they would not have been affected by the moratorium. There is no case for not implementing this report, and I hope that the Minister will tell us that the Government will do so. If we do not implement the report, matters will get worse.

I have talked so far about figures. Let me give a few examples of what is happening locally. The call centre in Lincoln is not working adequately--I visited it. Police constables are having to be taken away from other duties to man it. Despite reassurances about the police station in Gainsborough, people are not convinced. It is supposed to stay open until 9 o'clock, but often it is not. I visited a company which had a problem. The director of Impaq Ltd tells me:

"On my way home, I called the main Gainsborough Police station just to let them know that there was a gang of youths loitering on private property. Unfortunately the place was closed at 7.55pm!"

There has also been a problem with vandalism in the churchyard. Very worryingly, there is a hide, and there has been talk of vigilantes in the town. Nobody condones that sort of behaviour, but when the police presence declines to such an extent and people start talking about vigilantes, that is really worrying. I hope that the Minister will take careful note of what people are saying.

We have written to a number of parish councils. This is a typical comment from Hemswell Cliff parish council:

"One parishioner commented that after reporting a burglary in progress at out buildings at their property, it was some 50 minutes before the police arrived, by which time the offenders had fled. The officer apologised for the delay, but stated that they were the only patrol car covering the whole of the Gainsborough area and had been despatched from Lincoln."

That is the constituency of the hon. Member for Lincoln (Gillian Merron). Sometimes, in my constituency, in that enormous area stretching from the boundary close to Grimsby in the north-east right down to Market Rasen, there may be only one police officer on duty, or one car roaming around. It simply is not good enough.