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26 Mar 2003 : Column 375—continued
New Clause 14
Belfast (No. 2)
'(1) Schedule [Belfast (No. 2)] makes provision in relation to Belfast.
(2) Subsection (1) comes into force in accordance with provision made by the Secretary of State by order.'.—[Jane Kennedy.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Jane Kennedy) : I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Alan Haselhurst): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following:
Government new schedule 2—'Belfast No. 2'—and amendment (a) thereto.
Jane Kennedy: New clause 14 and new schedule 2 deal with the arrangements for the sub-groups of the district policing partnerships in Belfast. They replace section 21 of the 2000 Act, and make a series of supplementary consequential amendments. Amendment No. 37 is consequential upon new schedule 2. Although these provisions look, on the face of it, very complex, they cover much familiar ground. I recognise that hon. Members will have some concerns about what is proposed—indeed, the Select Committee raised some of those concerns—but I hope to be able to deal with them in due course. It might be helpful, however, if I first outline what the various changes mean and what their effect will be.
Hon. Members will be aware that there is a police district for every district council area in Northern Ireland except Belfast. The area covered by Belfast city council's jurisdiction is split into four police districts: north, south, east and west, for simplicity's sake. This reflects a Patten recommendation to take account of the significantly greater size of the population—and therefore of the policing task—in Belfast. Each of the four police districts in the city covers a population that is very nearly the size of the next largest district outside Belfast. It is already a requirement, under section 21 of the 2000 Act, for Belfast city council to establish a sub-group of its DPP for each of the four police districts in Belfast. Amendment (a) seeks to change that, by making
it optional for the council to establish sub-groups. I shall not be supporting that amendment, and I shall give my reasons a little later when I explain the importance that we attach to the requirement to establish the sub-groups.At present, the sub-groups' only function is to provide views on any matter concerning the policing of a police district to the district commander of the relevant police district and to the DPP itself. That is in contrast to the functions of a full DPP as set out in section 16 of the 2000 Act.
5.45 pm
In the August 2001 revised implementation plan, we undertook to consider, in the context of a review of policing arrangements, whether those limited powers remained appropriate for the Belfast sub-groups. That we have done, but given the scale of the policing task in each Belfast police district and the size of population involved in those areas, we consider that there is merit in the sub-groups for the four Belfast police districts having extended functions covering the majority of functions enjoyed by full DPPs.
The functions that we propose for the sub-groups mirror those in section 16(1)(a) to (d) of the Act. That should help to strengthen the relationship between the local community and the police service of its area in Belfast.
Mr. Trimble: The Minister said a few moments ago that the functions of the sub-groups mirror the majority of functions for the group for Belfast as a whole, yet she has also referred to them being identical to those set out in section 16. Will she identify what functions will remain solely in the purview of the Belfast DPP rather than being devolved or transferred to the sub-groups?
Jane Kennedy: The functions of the sub-groups will not be identical to those of the Belfast DPP, which will retain a particular role. I shall explain that in a few moments, if the right hon. Gentleman will allow me, and perhaps he will intervene again if I am not sufficiently clear.
What I want to make clear—this perhaps responds in some way to that point—is that we do not propose to create four new DPPs, nor did the Patten report recommend that. It specifically referred to those being sub-groups or sub-committees. So, unlike the full DPPs, the sub-groups will not be accountable to the Policing Board or the local council. That function will remain a role of the Belfast DPP itself; the sub-groups will remain accountable to it.
The Belfast DPP will retain an important city-wide role, so we have included in the new clause provisions requiring the sub-groups to provide annual reports to the DPP, which will enable it, in turn, to provide its own annual report to Belfast city council. The powers and duties of the Belfast DPP will change in only three respects. First, we will give it the power to require a sub-group to produce a report on any matter concerned with the exercise of that sub-group's functions. That may be for the DPP's own benefit or it may be to enable the DPP to respond to a request from the board for a report covering the whole of Belfast.
Secondly, the Belfast DPP will be given slightly longer than other DPPs to submit its annual report to the council or ad hoc reports to the board. That is to allow sufficient time for the Belfast DPP to commission and receive the relevant reports from its sub-groups before producing its own report.
Finally, we wish to avoid unnecessary duplication between the DPP and its sub-groups. The DPP will retain the ultimate responsibility for ensuring that the functions of consultation with the local community are adequately fulfilled, but if the DPP is satisfied that a function is already being adequately carried out by a sub-group, the DPP is exempt from the obligation to duplicate the work in respect of that particular area of Belfast.
Lembit Öpik: I have a more general point to make later, but I shall focus on the immediate point now. It sounds to me that there could be a danger of internecine rivalry between the sub-groups.
Mr. John Taylor: In Northern Ireland?
Lembit Öpik: Even in Northern Ireland. How will the structure that the Minister proposes adequately ensure that there is a complementary rather than an aggressive and factional approach among those various groups?
Jane Kennedy: The sub-groups will be responsible for working with and through the district commanders of their areas. Their focus will be very much geographical. The Belfast DPP may wish to report on certain issues to the Policing Board, or submit proposals to it. Those issues may affect the whole of Belfast, or just parts of it. It may then commission work from one of the sub-groups. I envisage a working relationship between the sub-groups and the DPP, rather than rivalry between the sub-groups. I am not sure what rivalry would arise, although no doubt it will always be possible.
Lembit Öpik: I was really thinking of rivalry between sub-groups and the DPP. There might be differences between the two about the implementation of police policy in a certain area. I fear that the DPP could find itself at loggerheads with the sub-groups.
Jane Kennedy: If that happened, the DPP would retain responsibility for determining the outcome.
Apart from the flexibilities I have mentioned, the functions, powers and role of the Belfast DPP remain in line with those applying to other DPPs. Its membership remains the same size, and with the same political balance. However, to ensure an effective link with the sub-groups, four of the political seats on the DPP will be held by the chairs of the sub-groups. The offices will be rotated between the four largest political parties on the council, so there will be a slight change in DPP membership—although not in its representativeness—each year.
Having concluded that the sub-groups should take on additional functions, the Government looked again at the arrangements for regulating sub-groups' procedures. At present, the Police (Northern Ireland)
Act 2000 says that each sub-group shall consist of at least six members of the partnership. There is no maximum size, there is no specified balance between political and independent members, and there is no arrangement for rotating the chairmanship between the four largest parties, as is the case with DPPs. I am well aware that at present, even with sub-groups of the minimum size, DPP members would have to sit on both the DPP and at least one sub-group. That is already a daunting workload, especially for councillors who have many other calls on their time.Given the additional functions that the sub-groups have taken on, we see benefit in both increasing the size of the sub-groups—because of the increasing workload—and being more specific about the arrangements applying to membership. Paragraph 13 of new schedule 2 inserts a new schedule 3A in the 2000 Act, which mirrors in almost every respect the provisions of schedule 3 in relation to DPPs. I shall concentrate on the respects in which the new schedule differs from the arrangements in schedule 3.
We propose that each sub-group should consist of 11 members, six political members appointed from among the members of the council and five independent members appointed by the board. That is similar to the balance on DPPs, but the size is smaller to reflect the lesser role of the sub-groups. In appointing political members, the council is charged with seeking to ensure that the sum of the political members of all sub-groups reflects the balance of the parties in the council. In appointing independent members of a sub-group, the board is required to ensure that, taken together, they are representative of the community in the relevant policing district.
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