Part of Police (Northern Ireland) Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 3:30 pm on 25 February 2003.
David Wilshire
Conservative, Spelthorne
3:30,
25 February 2003
I listened to the Minister with care. I was fascinated by her argument against my Amendment, which would require that we specify how often the review took place. She said that it was wrong of us to seek to restrict the power of the board to make its own decisions. I think that the Minister's argument is that it should be free to decide how often it carries out the review. I find it curious to hear that argument used against me so soon after being told that it is entirely proper to determine the number of times in a year that the board ''shall'' meet. That does not seem to leave it free to make up its own mind.
It is confusing to find that it if it suits the Government's purpose, they will tell the board what to do, and when it does not suit their purpose to do so, they will use the argument that the board should be free to make up its own mind. That is a curious way to proceed. I would have expected the Government to seek consistency in legislation. I understand the point that is being made. The right hon. Member for Upper Bann said that the matter could go into a code of practice, and I am sure it could—indeed, between the two of us, Mr. Gale, we could keep a list of such things and publish a draft code on Report to see whether the Government might find it acceptable.
Amendment No. 20 raises a matter of serious substance. The Minister said that the board should have a central role, and no one disputes that. But the Chief Constable, too, should have a central role—I hope that the Minister does not dispute that. The fact that matters of economy, efficiency and effectiveness are involved and that those are matters for the board is not an adequate justification for saying that the Chief Constable should not have some sort of veto.
A classic way of pursuing the three Es in management is to introduce performance targets. The Government know all about performance targets and how to use them for party political ends rather than management ends. If we leave the Bill in its present form, the board will be able to set performance targets for the Chief Constable. He will be able to comment on them, but he will not be able to defend himself against targets being introduced for political
ends. That would upset the balance of power by transferring too much power into the hands of the board. If a board decided that it wanted to undermine the independence of the Chief Constable and to hound him out of office, it would be easy enough to set performance targets that he simply could not meet, and although he might protest, he would still be held responsible.
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