Policing and Crime Bill
12:00 pm
David Ruffley (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Bury St Edmunds, Conservative)
ACPO has an interesting governing structure. When you look at its website and speak to its members, it does lots of things that many people would not think that it does. I shall move on from that. Clause 11 gives new powers to Ministers to make directions, and I note that you fear that that centralisation could lead to unwelcome politicisation. Let me put the counter to that, the case for the clause and something that Liberty might like. It would give Ministers the power, for instance, to direct that there could be, as suggested in Ronnie Flanagan’s interim report, a national suite of forms for the police, with minimum reporting requirements, so there would be a standardised set of forms across the country; saving police time and creating clarity for defence counsel, and lawyers generally, to rationalise the system. The only way in which that can be done is through centralised control. That would not be politicisation. What objection would you have if the power were used to have a national suite of forms?