35. Supplementary memorandum
submitted by New Leaf Education
Thank you for inviting comments on the White
Paper: Building Communities, Beating Crime; A Better Police
Service for the 21st Century. (Cm 6360.)
BACKGROUND
For almost 20 years I have designed and delivered
programmes of study for people who want to become police officers,
and for the past six years, my wife and I have run a correspondence
course which helps potential police recruits to develop the skills,
abilities and competencies they are asked to demonstrate during
the police recruitment procedure.
Learners complete 10 specialist workbooks and
receive feedback and advice on their essays and exercises. There
are units on literacy and numeracy, support of a tutor, and individual
help with police application forms. We provide learners with the
underpinning knowledge of police recruitment issues which leads
to a candidate's performance being much more realistic and indicative
of actual ability.
The programme is of particular assistance to
those whose cultural diversity disadvantages them from enjoying
an equal opportunity during the recruitment process, and each
year we speak to many hundreds of people who want to become police
officers.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to make
the following observations and suggest a solution which is specifically
concerned with the police recruitment process.
OBSERVATIONS
From reading the white paper and the evidence
presented to the committee, it would seem that everyone wants
a more diverse and representative police force, but that this
is not taking place as quickly or as uniformly as it should. There
are enough applicants overall, but not enough successful applicants
who are women, people with foreign language skills, and people
from minority ethnic groups.
There are four main causes of these problems:
— The complex series of assessments
described in police recruitment literature calls for a great deal
of understanding of British culture. Without underpinning knowledge,
those who did not spend their formative years in this country,
or may not have English as their first language, and people from
minority ethnic groups can feel disadvantaged and often believe
that the cultural bias of the recruitment process prevents them
from enjoying a "level playing field".
— Individuals from non-traditional
police recruit backgrounds often lack the support and encouragement
of peers and family. Unless they have the opportunity to prepare
for a realistic and confident application, people feel reluctant
to apply for a job which has a famously high failure rate.
— Question eight in the national police
application form asks candidates what they have done to prepare
for their assessment. But there seems to be an attitude in police
recruitment departments that "coaching" to pass an assessment
centre is unfair. Education however is very different from coaching.
On several occasions over the last six years we have written to
every police recruitment manager in the country explaining the
educational purpose of our programme and how the programme could
raise the standard of potential recruits. To date, only one police
force has accepted the offer of a discussion, and only three have
accepted the offer of free samples of our learning materials.
— Most who want to join the police
are not wealthy people. In reality, many women, and people from
minority ethnic groups, work long hours in poorly paid and/or
irregular jobs. This can prevent studying to a level where one
is competent to demonstrate the skills which are assessed during
the recruitment process. In the past, Individual Learning Accounts
(ILAs) were a very helpful way for people to access help with
the police recruitment process. But, since ILAs were withdrawn,
the number of people joining our programme alone has fallen by
around 80%. This represents over 1,000 people, mainly from groups
targeted by the Home Office and the police forces, who wanted
to apply to join the police, but decided not to, due to lack of
help with the application process.
SOLUTIONS
If we agree that we want more women, people
with language skills, and people from minority ethnic groups to
join the police service, then the solution is simple.
The more people who apply; the greater the choice
of suitable applicants.
If we as a society, really want to deliver a
major part of the National Policing Plan 2004-07, and seriously
make an effort to take up the suggestions of the Lawrence Steering
Group's "Dismantling Barriers" Action Plan, then either
the Home Office, or the police forces, should help potential applicants
by paying the programme fees of those they want to recruit.
This is perhaps not as innovative as it may
sound. We all know that Lifelong Learning is vitally important
for the economy, and that there are a multiplicity of Government
funded initiatives to help people to gain employment skills and
develop skills at work. For many years the MoD has paid for personnel
leaving the forces' to access education to improve their future
job opportunities.
In addition to correspondence courses, there
are already courses in place which prepare people for the police
recruitment process in Further Education Colleges throughout the
country.
I can assure you that there are many public
spirited people, who reflect the rich diversity of this country
and are keen to serve their communities as police officers, but
they need a little help, encouragement, and guidance.
Geoff Babirecki
Partner
24 November 2004
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