Examination of Witness (Questions 340-343)
30 NOVEMBER 2004
Mr Malcolm King
Q340 Mr Caton: Looking at the structure
of the police service, what are your views on force amalgamation
and changes to the structure and governance for the police in
Wales?
Mr King: I am aware of an argument
that there could be some advantages for Gwent and South Wales
amalgamating. I think it is clear from the debate that has gone
on over the last few months, following the publication of the
Government's Green Paper that mooted the possibly of force amalgamations,
that the evidence to suggest that policing is better in big forces
is simply not there. There is no clear evidence to suggest that
policing is more effectively done in small police forces or more
effectively done in larger police forces. There are examples of
larger police forces not being very effective and there are examples
of larger ones being very effective. And the same thing is true
of smaller police forces. There is simply no clear evidence to
suggest one way or the other. I think there is clear evidence
that the larger the unit of public administration, the harder
it is for people locally to feel connected with it. That is the
level that we need to be concerned about: if police forces and
police authorities represent too large an area, the public will
not feel as though they can engage effectively with it or hold
it to account. I have to say I am not an expert on policing and
police governance in the South of Wales but I would be concerned
that there would be a lessening of connectivity, if you like,
to what is essentially a vital public service.
Q341 Mr Caton: It seems—and forgive
me if I am misunderstanding you—that the case is not made
for reducing the number of police forces in England and Wales,
let alone just Wales, and, until that evidence is there, the local
arguments mean we should stick broadly with the structures we
have got.
Mr King: Absolutely. Certainly
so far as the Police Authorities of Wales are concerned, we do
not believe there is an argument for amalgamation of police forces,
certainly not an amalgamation into one police force in Wales.
I think there would be bitter opposition to that. Certainly, so
far as North Wales Police Authority is concerned, we would be
adamantly opposed to any amalgamation of police forces that involved
North Wales' police force. I think there would be no more than
a handful of people in North Wales who would see it as desirable
to have a police force for all of Wales. Goodness knows where
that handful of people would be, but I do not recall meeting anyone
that seemed likely to me to advocate that as an idea. I think
it would be an exceptionally bad idea to suggest that, and there
is absolutely no evidence of which I am aware that that would
produce a better police service.
Q342 Chairman: I think there has been
some discussion about bilingual policy in North Wales Police Authority.
Can you tell me what you in the authority are doing in terms of
making North Wales a wholly bilingual police service?
Mr King: Both the police authority
and the police force put a very high priority on making sure that
the public can receive a fully bilingual service and that there
is respect given to the Welsh language and Welsh culture. We do
that through a variety of different means. We have a Welsh language
policy in both the police authority and police force. We actively
encourage natural Welsh speakers to join the police force. We
have recruitment campaigns around that. They are unfortunately
not yet as successful as we would like and we are aiming to develop
that further. We have a huge amount of encouragement given to
learning the Welsh language, in particular from the Chief Constable
and more lately the Deputy Chief Constable in learning the Welsh
language: the Chief Constable passed his GCSE and then A-level
and I think that has been an enormously important example for
other police officers. I know that has been enormously well received
that within the Welsh-speaking communities. There is a culture
which is quite palpable throughout the force of a desire to produce
a fully bilingual service.
Q343 Mrs Williams: There was some disquiet
a couple of weeks ago, I heard members of the authority being
interviewed in a radio news bulletin, about the fact that bilingual
applicants seem to have been rejected and there was gong to be
an inquiry. Is that ongoing?
Mr King: I am not sure about that
particular incident. If there were any evidence that people were
rejected wrongly, because of an issue to do with the Welsh language,
that would be looked at in a very poor light within the service.
There is no doubt that there is very clear and firm leadership
from the top of the police force and from the police authority
to value Welsh-speaking recruits. We are very, very anxious to
increase our recruitment of Welsh-speaking police officers.
Chairman: That is all the questions we
have. Thank you very much.
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