HC Deb 30 May 1963 vol 678 cc1518-9
15. Mr. Shepherd

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what scientific means are used to determine and review police establishments; what outside aid has been called in on organisation and methods; and what allowance has been made in the review of establishments for the work now done by traffic wardens.

Mr. Brooke

Establishments are fixed, subject to my approval, by police authorities, but they are kept under close review by H.M. Inspectors of Constabulary. As I announced in the House on 29th April, the new Police Research and Planning Branch at the Home Office will include a unit which will study the criteria upon which establishments should be based. The work done by traffic wardens is taken into consideration when alterations in police establishments are considered.

Mr. Shepherd

Will my right hon. Friend give special attention to this problem since, as he admits in his Answer, exact criteria on which establishments are based are to be set up for the first time?

Mr. Brooke

Yes, Sir. I attach importance to this matter, and I think that my hon. Friend—and, indeed, the House generally—will think that I am doing right in establishing this new police research unit in the Home Office, which will, I think, be able to give us great help on matters of this character.

Mr. J. T. Price

But is not the real difficulty in harmonising police establishments and methods to be found in the fact that police administration is something of a law to itself and is not subject to the control of this House or a Minister of the Crown? Is it not a serious gap in our Civil Service arrangements when a very important Department under Crown administration is divorced from the general practice applying to other Departments of the Crown? Would it not be better if the Home Secretary and his colleagues set about bringing the police into line with Civil Service practice in every other Department?

Mr. Brooke

I do not accept that the police are axactly parallel with the Civil Service, but I have already said that I am in course of preparing a new Police Bill, which will no doubt provide a convenient occasion for the hon. Member to express his views.

Mr. Callaghan

May I ask whether the Home Secretary is adopting the recommendation of the Royal Commission that the Home Office should depart from its traditional system of not allowing an establishment to be increased until the old establishment is actually full, with the consequential effect of disguising a true shortage?

Mr. Brooke

If the hon. Gentleman would be good enough to put a Question down on that point I should be very glad to give him a considered answer, but, in general, I do not think that we should wait to review an establishment until the force is fully up to strength.