| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
Mr. Clarke: My hon. Friend is well known for the commitment of his campaigning in relation to the Metropolitan police. His campaign of parliamentary questions has been entirely appropriate.
First, there has been a special inspectorate investigation into the Metropolitan police. My hon. Friend will have seen the report, which was published only a few months ago. The investigation raised serious matters of the sort to which he has referred. These issues are being addressed seriously by the Commissioner and by the Government, for exactly the reasons that my hon. Friend is implying.
Secondly, it is somewhat unfair to tar the Commissioner entirely with the brush of those issues. The Commissioner is personally committed to rooting out corruption in the Metropolitan police. Beyond that, he believes that it is critical that the process is carried through successfully if the people of London are to have trust in the Metropolitan police. That is the path that is being taken, and it is one that I wholeheartedly support.
Mr. John Greenway (Ryedale): Is it not clear from these exchanges that unless the changes that the Minister intends to bring forward address the problem of delay, they will not succeed? The inquiry held in Cleveland concerning Superintendent Mallon--a highly respected officer who has been praised by the Prime Minister--took longer than two years and cost several million pounds. Like the hon. Member for Thurrock (Mr. Mackinlay), I have constituents who are senior police officers who have been suspended for almost 18 months. No criminal prosecutions are to be brought, but internal disciplinary inquiries continue. Can the Minister give us some confidence, in the light of the KPMG reports, that the issue of delay will be addressed? The old adage that justice delayed is justice denied works both ways. There are many fine police officers now suspended who deserve justice.
Mr. Clarke: I wholeheartedly agree with the hon. Gentleman. When I took up my portfolio at the end of July 1999 I tried to understand, but it is difficult to see how the process in so many cases could take so long. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to highlight that. That is why I am personally committed to driving through the reforms as rapidly as possible. That is necessary for everyone involved, including the police. The hon. Gentleman is a former police officer, and he is aware of the debilitating effects on police morale if inquiries hang around. I associate myself with his remarks.
Mr. Martin Linton (Battersea): Is my hon. Friend aware that the two consultation papers are closely in line with the recommendations of the two Home Affairs Committee reports on disciplinary procedures and on training and recruitment? Is he aware also that the intention to have a larger independent element in the investigation of complaints against the police by people outside the police will be especially welcomed? However, I would not imagine that even my former colleagues in the press would expect such investigations to be conducted by journalists.
Is my hon. Friend also aware that there will be a big welcome for the concept of a central police college--which, I imagine, rather than handing out AS-levels in sociology, will put police training at the level of university degree courses, where it should be? I hope that in so doing my hon. Friend will encourage the involvement of universities, such as Portsmouth, in the provision of degree-level training for the police.
Mr. Clarke: I am second to none in my respect and admiration for the investigative qualities of journalists of
all types, and for the accuracy with which they report their conclusions. However, I share my hon. Friend's view that to rely on them as a core element in the independent police complaints system might be going just a step too far.I shall respond seriously to the point about AS-level sociology. It is a weakness of the current training system that the various practitioners within the criminal justice system--lawyers, the police, and social workers, for example--are not trained together to anything like the extent that they need to be. An important element in the new training regime will be to establish practical training for people who will be working together, so that they understand relationships across the criminal justice system. The training will not be a theoretical schoolboy text on AS-level sociology. Instead, it will be practical training that will bring professions together so that the criminal justice system can deliver for everyone.
Mr. Andrew Rowe (Faversham and Mid-Kent): Will the Minister ensure that frivolous or malevolent complaints against the police are strongly dealt with? The police are undermined by that kind of unsubstantiated attack.
As a trustee of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, may I emphasise my agreement that training across disciplines is absolutely indispensable? In the past, the police have been too much cut off from the rest of society. Given that prevention of cruelty to children is one of the prime targets of law and order, I hope that the Minister will employ widely the lessons learned from co-operation with the NSPCC.
Mr. Clarke: I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman's support on the final point. He is well respected for his work in that field, and his support is important.
I agree, too, about frivolous or malevolent complaints. That is one reason why such matters need to be resolved rapidly. A judgment must be made, of course, about what is frivolous or malevolent, and that judgment is not always easy. However, it is important that the system should be more rapid than it is at present.
Mr. Marsha Singh (Bradford, West): I welcome my hon. Friend's statement on both fronts. The independent complaints authority that eventually results will improve and promote public confidence in the police, and will be welcomed by the police themselves.
We need first-class training for a first-class police service, but I should like to question the references to AS-level sociology. Our cities contain complex communities and it is important that different communities should see the police force as their own police force. If that is to happen, the police must understand communities and their sensitivities. Unless they do, we shall never reach the position in which everyone sees the police service as their own.
Mr. Clarke: I agree with both my hon. Friend's points. It is critically important that the police should have confidence in the system. From the conversations that I have had with police officers at all levels, I believe that he is right to say that the police believe that an independent system is necessary and will assist their relationships with the communities that they serve.
As for the point about sociology, I was not talking about the importance of the police understanding their communities, which is essential. I was, I suppose, implicitly criticising the idea that an AS-level sociology course might give the understanding that my hon. Friend rightly identifies as necessary.
Mr. Tony Baldry (Banbury): If the Minister had been making a statement today on teaching, nursing or another public service, he would almost certainly have paid tribute to the service concerned. The House will have noted, and Hansard will show, that he has at no stage paid tribute to the police service. We shall not recruit men and women into the police unless they feel that it is a valid public service. Perhaps, instead of criticising the police whenever we speak, it is time that we collectively paid tribute to the outstanding public service of policemen and women, often in difficult, and sometimes in dangerous, circumstances. Unless we do so, we shall never persuade young men and women that the police is a profession and a public service worth entering.
Mr. Clarke: I find that an extraordinary remark. My right hon. and hon. Friends and I make it our business frequently to pay tribute to the work of the police. That we should do so is a canon of our existence. The hon. Gentleman should perhaps address his remarks to the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow Home Secretary, who have, in recent weeks, made it their business to undermine the police by attacks and criticisms--something that Labour Members absolutely do not do. I pay total tribute to the police; I simply wish that that was the case across the House.
Mr. Tony McWalter (Hemel Hempstead): I welcome my hon. Friend's statement, but I ask him to consider two matters of concern. First, Members of Parliament often receive substantial allegations about the police. Can he assure me that the way in which we can deal with those complaints will be facilitated by the new system? In particular, will we be able to transmit allegations to the appropriate place without it seeming as if we either endorse them or regard them as vexatious?
Secondly, will my hon. Friend assure the House that the new arrangements will protect the police better against malevolent accusations? Some accusations can be co-ordinated, which makes them more plausible than a single, wild allegation.
Mr. Clarke: I can give my hon. Friend the assurance that he seeks on his second point. Having an independent system will ensure that malevolent accusations can be eliminated and dealt with rapidly and effectively.
My hon. Friend makes an interesting point about Members of Parliament, which I have discussed with the police. We all, in our constituency surgeries and elsewhere, receive complaints of various kinds. At present, the options open to us are fairly narrow. There is a case for passing complaints directly to an independent authority. We are considering that in the consultation paper, because it is an important means of ensuring that we carry out our duties effectively.
| Next Section
| Index | Home Page |