HC Deb 02 December 1971 vol 827 cc634-5
13. Mr. Albert Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what considerations he has given to the representations made to him by the West Yorkshire Police Joint Branch Board of the Police Federation that the proposed further reorganisation will have a disruptive effect.

Mr. Sharples

My right hon. Friend has considered them carefully, along with comments from local and police authorities concerned. The Joint Branch Board has been informed that he would not feel justified in proposing the combination of the West and South Yorkshire metropolitan counties for police purposes.

Mr. Roberts

Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind that there is much discontent in Yorkshire? I know he is in touch with my hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Wythenshawe (Mr. Alfred Morris). But we in Yorkshire are concerned about the police force, so will the hon. Gentleman consider a unified police force within the geographical boundaries of Yorkshire?

Mr. Sharples

The policy is that each new county should have its own force except when a new county is too small to secure its own efficient policing by modern standards. Each amalgamation scheme has been considered carefully by my right hon. Friend and myself. In certain cases we have reached conclusions but in others the conclusions still have to be announced.

Mr. Alfred Morris

As the Minister of State and the Home Secretary know, from their conversations with me and from officers of the Police Federation, there is deep and widespread concern about the disruptive effects more generally on the police of local government reorganisation. May we be assured that the Home Secretary will now enter into full and meaningful consultation with the Police Federation nationally on this important matter?

Mr. Sharples

My right hon. Friend has had a talk with Police Federation representatives. He has considered very carefully the views which were put forward and is anxious to reduce the disruption to a minimum. None the less, the principle must remain that police authority areas must be related to local authority areas.