Police and Justice Bill

I am grateful to the contributors to this debate for the constructive way they have engaged with the issues and the focus that has been placed on the accountability and management of important partnerships involved in crime and disorder. The review of the partnership provisions of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 that has been undertaken during the past year or so stresses the importance of including members from the police authority on the overview and scrutiny committee when it is looking at crime and disorder matters and the work of the crime and disorder reduction partnership, to ensure that local policing priorities are properly reflected at the strategic level. The Secretary of State continues to offer assurances that we still believe it appropriate to include the police authority on the overview and scrutiny committee functions, and the regulation-making power in Clause 18 allows for that flexibility. We are consulting practitioners around the country on exactly how best to exercise that power, and most importantly that will include police authority members. However, I understand the sensitivity of the issue against the background of current discussions about the size and composition of police authorities. It is also important to highlight that the composition of such committees should continue to reflect the current and future structure of community safety delivery. The power in the Bill will allow that to happen. The power is subject to the affirmative resolution process, and we can fairly argue that Parliament will have an opportunity to both monitor and scrutinise its use and effectiveness. Amendment No. 114 is a consequential amendment to ensure that, if police authorities are added to the membership of the crime and disorder committee by Amendment No. 103, the same applies to those overview and scrutiny committees set up in areas not operating under executive arrangements. However, as previously stated, we have taken the power to specify who should be co-opted to sit on those committees, and for that reason we do not require it to be set out in primary legislation. It is worth underlining the point by saying we will also have a power to provide that they may be given voting rights. Amendment No. 117 would alter the structure of crime and disorder reduction partnerships by reducing the number of responsible authorities from five to two. This amendment would make the police and the local authority responsible and accountable for the development and delivery of all aspects of the partnership strategy. In our view this narrowing of membership would come at a time when, as a consequence of good partnership working and recent strategy changes, the CDRP remit has expanded to cover crime and disorder, substance misuse, anti-social behaviour and behaviour adversely affecting the environment. I would have thought, given their experience, that my noble friends Lord Harris and Lady Henig, and the noble Baroness, Lady Harris of Richmond, understanding as they do the value of good partnership working, would see the benefit of having this broader partnership membership. We acknowledge the important role that the police and the local authority undertake. Perhaps one might describe them as leading players in taking forward the CDRP’s work. However, we think the remaining responsible authorities continue to play an equally critical role in the work of partnerships. This amendment would be a step backwards in terms of joined-up local delivery, and we do not think it would necessarily assist in tackling important community safety issues at the local level. CDRPs are founded on the principle that tackling crime and disorder is not just a job for the police. I am sure that that is a view all your Lordships share. To tackle the root causes of crime, a wider range of agencies must be involved. The partnership approach, as taken forward by CDRPs at the local level, has achieved sustained reductions in crime across the country, and we think this amendment might undermine or threaten some of that good work.