Police and Justice Bill

I shall speak to Amendments Nos. 117, 118 and 122 in this group, which are in my name. In doing so, I intend to be as helpful as possible to the Government. What I am trying to do in these amendments is, first, to put into a form that works what I understand to be their intention and, secondly, to clear up a mess that I believe is left from some ill thought-out provisions in the 2002 Act. The purpose of these amendments is to create a body in each local area that would be visible, transparent and accountable to the public for local community safety strategies. I believe that that is the Government’s intention as a result of the review of the Crime and Disorder Act that they have been conducting. This part of the Bill is intended to put that review into effect. The Government’s intention is to create such a body by splitting existing local crime and disorder reduction partnerships into strategic and delivery levels, but the Bill as currently drafted does not express that very clearly. It deals with the split by inserting a provision in Schedule 7 to allow different functions to be conferred on different responsible authorities; but as the detail is to be contained in secondary guidance, it does not clearly explain what is intended and may lead to confusion. I am therefore trying to assist my noble friend by putting forward an amendment which I hope achieves greater clarity. The amendment would make it plain that the responsible authorities in the Crime and Disorder Act are restricted to the local council and the local police commander as these are the individuals or agencies that are by and large responsible for delivery. In effect, that reverts to the previous provisions of the 1998 Act. At the same time, it would create a group of partners that I have called the ““strategic safety partnership””, for want of a better name. The name is not of course sacrosanct, and I am happy to call it anything else that noble Lords might think appropriate. That group of partners would include members—not officers—of the local council or councils for the area, the police authority, the fire authority and a non-executive director of the primary care trust in England or the health authority in Wales. So in essence, rather than having responsible authorities—the primary care trusts, the fire authority, Uncle Tom Cobbleigh and all—as we have at the moment, which diffuses and makes less clear who is directly responsible for taking action, the amendment clarifies that arrangement and ensures that those other bodies are very much seen as strategic partners who are involved in the process. This strategic safety partnership would become the strategic level of the CDRP, responsible for setting local community safety strategies and plans and monitoring the performance of the elements of the CDRP which are responsible for delivery. That would be primarily the local council and local police commander. I have been specific that the representatives of the partners concerned should be members or non-executive directors, because the strategic safety partnership will be accountable to the public for local community safety issues. I do not believe that officers of the constituent bodies can be held accountable in the same way as their first duty is to their employer, not to the public. This is an important principle which it is intended will also help to improve the responsiveness of CDRPs. No doubt my noble friend will reassure me that this vision of public accountability is exactly what the Government intend to address in the secondary regulations for which Schedule 7 provides. However, I believe that this important principle should be made plain on the face of the Bill. My own view, now that I have read some of the Government’s proposals, is that there is a lack of clarity as to how that is to work, who is to be responsible and who is to be part of the strategic direction. I have personally believed for a long time that ““responsible authorities”” should be restricted to local councils and local police commanders, although I know that some of my noble colleagues may disagree with me on that. It was groundbreaking enough in the 1998 Act to place a joint responsibility on two statutory authorities and expect them to work together—especially when, in some instances, they did not have a great deal of experience of doing so. To try to place a joint responsibility on four, five or six statutory authorities is not workable. If you make it clear that the local council chief executive and police commanders are the responsible officials for delivering the crime and disorder reduction partnership and that the strategy is agreed by the broader group of partners, that is the sensible way forward. Many of the functions currently conferred on responsible authorities are really appropriate only to bodies actually involved in delivering community safety, while the responsibility for ensuring that community safety strategies are adequately reflected in the plans of the partner organisations is clearly more appropriately a responsibility of the partners to the strategic safety partnership. I accept that, as a result, there may be many consequential amendments to be made to the Crime and Disorder Act, but I am sure that Home Office officials will be delighted to help my noble friend in finding them. But clarity about the split in functions is necessary and has to be achieved and the importance of public accountability for community safety should be made clear. I believe that it is worth getting this right from the start by amending the Bill in this way.