Clause 52 - Three-year strategy plan
Railways and Transport Safety Bill
10:15 am
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Vale of York, Conservative)
The significance of the clause and the principle of having a three-year strategy plan relate closely to clauses 47 to 51. Will the Minister tell us whom the Government expect the authority to consult when setting out its three-year strategy plan? I hope that they will take the opportunity to build up good relationships with local communities—the Government would probably use their jargon about local partnerships. It is interesting to note that medium and long-term strategies for policing the railways should be set out in each consecutive period of three financial years.
Considering the new powers that are given to the British Transport police under the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, how will short-term contingency planning fit in, particularly in the event of a terrorist attack? We have established that all parts of the transport infrastructure, not least the railways, are threatened and that at the height of the Northern Irish atrocities paramilitary groups made several attempts to blow up a line of track or a railway bridge. How does the short-term contingency plan fit in with the three-year strategy plan, as well as provisions in other clauses?
The relevant sections of the Police Act 1996 will affect the policing of the railways. Will the Minister confirm that the authority, acting with the chief constable, will determine the priorities that are deemed to be less relevant to the work of the British Transport police under the appropriate sections of the 1996 Act? Will he confirm that the authority and chief constable will be empowered to do that? That will go some way to meeting the forceful requests for them to be enabled to set railway specific priorities in the short and medium-to-long term, and particularly under the three-year strategy plan. How will the three-year strategy plan enable the British Transport police authority and the chief constable to achieve that? I
hope that the Secretary of State will not try to invoke the power of authority under previous clauses or say that the British Transport police authority should not have dropped the provisions of the Police Act 1996.
It is interesting that no specific mention is made of the new powers, which were welcomed by the British Transport police. I have mentioned the short-term threat of terrorism, but we all realise that the nature and threat of terrorism has changed from the Northern Irish context to a more global threat. How will that be reflected in the three-year strategy plan? Will the Minister explain, with reference to the national policing plan and in the context of the whole of part 3, how the relevant clauses will sit comfortably with the development of a three-year strategy plan? It is clearly an important tool, and the Government have said that they are keen on setting performance targets, so how will the three-year strategy plan be measured against the annual policing properties? Will there be opportunities for the authority to amend the plan during its life?