New clause 8 - Conditions on payment of Police Grant
Police Reform Bill [Lords]
6:30 pm
Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
New clause 8 relates to an issue that the Committee has already debated. It is, to put it bluntly, another bite at the same cherry. As we have said before, the Government have said time and again that the decision about whether to employ community support officers or have accredited community safety schemes will be for police authorities and chief officers. As the Secretary of State told the Police Federation, ''We're not going to force this on any police area.''
Taken at face value, that statement is completely clear. As we reminded the Minister previously, on Second Reading he declined to rule out the use of financial measures to encourage, enable or promote the employment of community support officers.
Now is not the time for a wide-ranging debate on the advantages and disadvantages of CSOs or their powers. This is a narrow issue that relates to the freedom of chief constables and their authorities to decide whether to employ police officers or CSOs and whether to enter community safety accreditation schemes. We strongly believe that those matters should be left entirely to local decision and, more importantly, that there should be no coercion from the centre.
We designed new clause 8 to ensure that the Secretary of State cannot through the grant mechanism coerce police authorities or chief officers to employ people whom otherwise they might not want to employ or to enter into arrangements into which they might not otherwise want to enter. The Government have a penchant for using the grant system and top-slicing for priorities assessed by the
Government as opposed to the local police authority or chief constable. I am extremely worried, especially in light of the Minister's refusal on Second Reading to rule that out. It is almost inevitable that the police grant will be top-sliced in order to fund CSOs. In other words, if chief officers want the extra money, they will have to employ CSOs. I believe that that is wrong.