Clause 3 - Powers to require inspection and report
Police Reform Bill [Lords]
2:45 pm
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
We accept what the Minister said about the BCU being a crucial part of how police forces operate. However, we have a huge concern, to which we will return in other debates. I do not want to labour the point now but it is important to put it on the record in the clause 3 stand part debate, given what the Minister has just said. We think that there is a grave misunderstanding on the part of the Government that the man from Whitehall knows best—that a future Home Secretary will be better able to understand what should happen within a BCU—and that his demanding inspections down to BCU level is part and parcel of a huge mistake in the Government's thinking. It is part of Whitehall's attempt to micro-manage. My noble Friend Lord Dixon-Smith said when he successfully introduced amendments to the Bill in another place that his experience during many years of public life led him to the conclusion that the man from Whitehall usually does not know best. I respectfully agree with him. It is unwise for the Government to start thinking it sensible to take powers to intervene down to BCU level. As my hon. Friend the Member for Tatton rightly said on amendments Nos. 112 and 113, we are greatly concerned that the Government are fundamentally wrong.