New Clause 10 - Railway safety accreditation scheme
Police Reform Bill [Lords]
4:30 pm
Mr John Denham (Minister of State (Police, Courts and Drugs), Home Office; Southampton, Itchen, Labour)
I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
I welcome you to the Chair, Mr. O'Brien, and I look forward to serving under you this afternoon.
New clause 10 is intended to enable the British Transport police to benefit from the proposals in this Bill for community safety accreditation schemes. In this morning's discussion on that subject, it was felt that Home Office police forces should be able to set up such schemes. However, we have received representations from the BTP and the railway industry in support of extending the concept of accreditation to the BTP.
Therefore, the new clause will enable the Secretary of State to make regulations to allow the chief constable of the BTP to establish and maintain a railway safety accreditation scheme. The intention is that the regulations will be closely modelled on the Bill's proposal for community schemes. However, through making regulations, the Secretary of State will be able to take account of the BTP's differences from local police forces, which include its jurisdiction throughout England and Wales, rather than the police area concept that covers local police forces.
Before making such regulations, the Secretary of State will be required to consult the BTP's chief constable, and its police committee. The Secretary of State will also be required to consult representatives of chief police officers, police authorities, local authorities and such other persons that he considers it to be appropriate to consult. It is also our intention that the regulations themselves will require the BTP's chief constable to consult those same organisations when proposing his railway scheme.
The regulations will be able to confer only those powers on persons accredited under the railway scheme as are available to persons under a community scheme. Thus, railway accredited persons will be able to receive only the powers detailed in schedule 5 for community safety accredited persons.
However, there is an exception to that. To meet the specific needs of the railway, we intend to make two additional railway specific powers available under the
railway scheme. These are the power to issue fixed penalty notices for the offences of trespassing on the railway and throwing stones at trains.
The BTP has campaigned to be included within these proposals, ever since they were published. It is a public police force that works alongside Home Office forces and deals with many of the same challenges. It faces the same problems of antisocial behaviour and minor offences that local police forces face, and it has the same police powers. The additional support of accredited persons in fighting crime and disorder is necessary for the BTP, as much as it is for any local police force.
However, the railways are also ideally suited for an accreditation scheme. These schemes allow non-police authority employees, once they have been suitably trained, to be given powers under the scheme. The railway companies are well placed to put forward their own staff under the railway scheme, and they have also voiced their support for this proposal.
Some railway companies are already working closely with the BTP in developing similar, voluntary schemes. South West Trains has committed £1.8 million, in an initiative to equip its own dedicated staff with the necessary skills and training from the BTP to become travel safe officers. Up to 40 such staff will undergo the same recruitment process as special constables, and then undergo a full two-week training programme. They will also be fully trained in track safety, railway byelaws and railway-specific legislation. They will be clearly identifiable by separate uniforms from other railway staff.
Railtrack has also been working closely with the BTP to improve the security arrangements at its 15 major stations. These stations account for 15 per cent. of all crime on the railways that is reported to the BTP, but the deployment of security guards was not delivering significant benefits, with the guards merely calling the BTP when faced with a possible crime. Railtrack approached the BTP regarding that problem, and the BTP now provides training for its guards concerning their powers under the railway byelaws, and advises Railtrack on how to deploy the guards to best reduce and deter crime.
In both cases, accreditation under a statutory railway scheme would greatly enhance the status of the arrangements. It would also provide those persons with clear statutory powers. The Association of Train Operating Companies has expressed great enthusiasm for promoting the proposals to the rest of the industry, based on the South West Trains model. The ability of the BTP to present a single, statutory accreditation scheme for the whole of the railways would be a significant benefit to the safety and security of passengers.
There are clear benefits to the BTP, the railways industry and the travelling public from these proposals. The scheme, like the others we have talked about, is not a way of replacing BTP officers on the railways. However, there are people who, under accreditation schemes, can undertake routine activities that would not be the best use of police resources. The scheme, like those discussed earlier, is
about making the most effective use of police resources by supporting police. I commend the new clause to the Committee.