What is the impact of Omicron on the Metropolitan Police Service and what additional support do they need this year?

The COVID‑19 pandemic continues to pose considerable challenges to all emergency services. I want to thank and recognise all those responsible for the hard work they have been doing to keep us safe over the last two years.

I remain in close contact with the MPS Commissioner and receive twice‑weekly updates on the number of officers who are sick or isolating. The current overall rate of absence due to sick and self‑isolating officers is around 10%. The rate peaked at the beginning of January [2022] at 13.5% and has been slowly decreasing since. There will, of course, be times of increased absence rates in some teams and Basic Command Unit areas. Officers and staff are stepping in for their colleagues when they are unwell or self‑isolating. This does add extra pressure but the MPS is using its resources flexibly, and I am assured that this is being managed well.

Owing to my investment and the partial reversal of Government cuts, the MPS has more officers than at any time since 2010; 33,212 as at the end of November 2021. Nonetheless, these absences are undoubtedly putting additional pressure on officers. We must all keep playing our part to limit the spread of the virus by wearing face coverings on public transport and other places where it is not possible to keep a social distance, and, importantly, to get vaccinated.

Just addressing one issue you touched on at the end, which is partially reversing cuts in police officers, we were recently told that we were going to receive 4,500 officers as part of the Government’s national uplift, well short of the 6,000 the Commissioner called for from Government to keep London safe. I am concerned, for one, about the MPS’s capacity to deal with non‑violent crimes that are high in volume such as burglary and theft. One particular issue that is affecting my constituency is catalytic converter theft, which is on the rise and has risen over 77% in Brent and Harrow over the last few years. If the MPS is to prevent crimes such as these, how important is it to have the adequate policing numbers to address them?

You raise an issue that causes real distress to those Londoners who own vehicles who have had their catalytic converter pinched. People come along, jack up the car, saw the exhaust off and take away that catalytic converter to make money from its cell. On the one hand, we will carry on lobbying the Government for more police officers. We are still being short‑changed. I met the Home Secretary this week and lobbied her again for more police officers. The reason why it is important is because if we are having to ration the time police officers have because of limited numbers, those sorts of offences, which cause huge distress to some Londoners, are not the priority that they should be.

In the absence of us getting the officers we need; the police still are working hard. We are making sure that we are having cat [catalytic converter] marking events using SmartWater products. We are working with those who have cash for scrap to do what we can to avoid these materials having money made from them. We are doing what we can to work with the Society of Motor Manufacturers in relation to what they can do to help us in this area. However, that is one example of a consequence of cuts in policing over an 11‑year period.

Thank you. Research that I have sought from the police has found that 86% of these crimes occur on Toyota, Honda, or Lexus vehicles. I have written to these companies to see what they can do. We have a recall system, for example, where we have safety defects, where vehicles can be called back to the manufacturer to fix them. Would you join my call to make sure that those vehicles that are more susceptible to these types of crimes are called back so that they can be made as safe as possible, without charge to the consumer? It is an issue that I think we were unaware of when these vehicles were produced or sold. The newer ones seem to have tackled it, but the older vehicles are still susceptible to this crime. Is this something that you would like to see manufacturers do more on?

Chair, Assembly Member Hirani has raised an important issue and a good example of where his expertise can help me. Chair, why don’t I speak to the Assembly Member offline, he can share with me the letters he has written, and I can amplify that? I can also make contact with the manufacturers that he is talking about and ask the police also to use Assembly Member Hirani’s expertise to write to the Society of Motor Manufacturers as well, who are the umbrella group. Some of your experience locally and the work you have done, we may be able to amplify across the rest of London as well.

Thank you. Just addressing police numbers as well, yesterday I had the pleasure of joining the new Wembley Town Centre Team, as part of the new initiative of Town Centre Teams that you are rolling out all across London. It is having a real difference in increasing public confidence. We spoke about trust in the police before in other Assembly Member questions but businesses and residents that I spoke to were very receptive. They felt that police were on the streets and were around. Twenty‑one additional officers in just a small space is making such a huge difference.

That is fantastic. You will be aware of the reassurance it gives people ‑ particularly at night time, women and girls ‑ seeing high‑visibility policing. Also, businesses love seeing police officers in their town centres as well. I am really pleased we have these 620 additional officers in our town centres. The latest tranche will be joining in February [2022]. It is a good example of the investment from City Hall and the benefits of our lobbying, which some did not like in this Assembly, which has led to a partial U‑turn from the Government.

Thank you.