Clause 2 - Board's policing objectives
Police (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
I welcome the change to the clause. It ensures that the Policing Board must take account of the Secretary of State's long-term policing objectives in framing its own, rather than just incorporate decisions made by the Secretary of State. The essential difference is that Patten recommended strongly that the Secretary of State set long-term objectives and principles and the board set objectives and priorities for policing over a three to five-year period. It is only right that the board should be able to do that without being required to take those objectives and priorities from a set of principles drawn up a Secretary of State, which far outruns the writ for the period that they have to cover.
At Weston Park, the Government agreed to amend the Act so that the Northern Ireland Policing Board would take account of the Secretary of State's objectives when setting its own. I fully agree with that because it gives the board greater autonomy. I make no apologies for seeking greater autonomy for the board with regard to that matter and many others. Such a provision also secures compliance with Patten, who, as I said, clearly recommended that the board should set its objectives and priorities for policing over a three to five-year period, taking account of any longer-term objectives or principles set by the Secretary of State.
I do not anticipate great divergence from objectives or principles as the years proceed, but I can foresee circumstances in which matters that had been addressed in the long term might need adjustment by the board according to its three to five-year term for planning and objectives, requiring a divergence from the long-term objectives or principles set by the Secretary of State. That may never happen, but in the interests of the status, and, indeed, the potency of the board, it should have the power to carry out its Patten remit in the manner stated in the clause, which I welcome.