HC Deb 20 February 1986 vol 92 cc469-71
10. Mr. Evennett

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on current manning levels within the Metropolitan police.

Mr. Hurd

The strength of the Metropolitan police at the end of January was 26,870, the highest ever. The strength of the civil staff was 13,168. Total strength, including both police and civil staff, was 6,031 higher than in May 1979. Recruitment is going well, and the Commissioner plans to reach the present establishment of 27,165 by next June.

An increase of 43 in the civil staff ceiling from 1 April has already been approved, and I have also given my agreement in principle to an increase of 50 in the police establishment from the same date to strengthen the Commissioner's efforts against drug trafficking. Last October I set in hand urgent work to consider where there were specific needs for further increases in the three establishment. I am now considering the outcome of this review.

Mr. Evennett

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for his answer. I think that all Conservative Members are grateful to the Government for their efforts to improve police morale and manpower. However, is he aware that in my district, which covers Bexley, there appears to be undermanning and that in parts of Erith, Belvedere and Thamesmead this is hindering the fight against crime because we do not appear to have enough manpower?

Mr. Hurd

I understand that point, but I am a little puzzled by my hon. Friend's question, because my information is that there has been an increase of about 10 in the strength of the Bexley Heath division over last year's figure. I shall look further into that point with the Commissioner. However, after a pause, the size of the Metropolitan police is set to rise further.

Mr. Chris Smith

What guarantee is there that the additional police resources that are being made available to the Metropolian police will result in more police officers on the beat in local neighbourhoods, with less extended beats to patrol, instead of racing around in Transit vans, with the constant possibility that there might conceivably be a repetition of the tragic incidents at Holloway in August 1982?

Mr. Hurd

It is for the Commissioner to decide how to use the resources that are available to him. He has to strike a balance between the men on the beat and being able to make men available at short notice when there is trouble. The tendency is towards men on the beat. The House may know that the reorganisation that the Commissioner has set in hand will release for operational duty about 200 police officers over and above the figures that I gave in the main answer.

Mr. Squire

Does my right hon. Friend accept that the Commissioner of Police, who is much respected, has specifically asked for an increase in establishment? Will he undertake to give the very strongest consideration to meeting that request? Many parts of the Metropolitan police area, including mine in east London, would appreciate an increase in establishment.

Mr. Hurd

I am sure that that is so. That is why, since last October, we have been conducting a review, which is now coming to an end. I have received the results, but I have not yet had time to study them. It will not be long, however, before we can reach a decision.

Mr. Woodall

Is the Home Secretary aware that his reply may be good news for London, but that it is not such good news for other metropolitan police forces? Is he aware that the budget of the new police committee that is to take over the West Yorkshire metropolitan police at the end of next month is already £6 million short for the current year? Will the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for the Environment get their act together, because there has been an increase in crime in Yorkshire as well as in London? The new police committee will find itself in extreme difficulty in keeping present manpower levels, never mind increasing them. What will the Home Secretary do about it?

Mr. Hurd

It is precisely because the new joint boards, including West Yorkshire, came to see me and pointed out the difficulty which the hon. Member has raised that I was able to persuade my colleagues and to announce last week an increase of 51 per cent., from 50 per cent., in the proportion of the police grant borne by the taxpayer. That will be a substantial help to West Yorkshire and the other metropolitan areas in keeping their police forces up to establishment.

Mr. Stanbrook

Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind that the gentle rise in the establishment of the Metropolitan police over the last 30 or 40 years is inadequate to cope with all the extra demands made upon the police and that, despite the increase in the number of civilian staff, we still have far too few people to provide adequate policing on the beat?

Mr. Hurd

It is certainly true that the demands on the police have risen and that the conditions of service have changed. The cost of a trained police officer, which is about £28,000 a year, has also risen. That is why I am considering again in the review that is coming to an end the right level for the Metropolitan police.

Mr. Kaufman

On the question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith), does the Home Secretary agree that there is a grave danger that unless the men responsible for the wanton crime against my hon. Friend's constituents are discovered and dealt with, there will be increasing public anxiety and the good name of the Metropolitan police will be sullied? What will the Home Secretary do to make it clear that men who shield criminals within the Metropolitan police collude in the crime? Will he establish whether it is appropriate for such men to remain members of the force unless they assist to discover the people who committed the crime?

Mr. Hurd

I agree with the right hon. Gentleman and with the hon. Member for Islington, South and Finsbury (Mr. Smith) that that affair is deeply damaging to the Metropolitan police and will continue to be so unless and until it is cleared up. In other cases, the right hon. Gentleman would have been very quick to point out to me that what is at stake is evidence and that the burden of proof has to be proof beyond reasonable doubt, whether one is talking about disciplinary action, as I think he was just now, or about a criminal charge. The burden of proof is the same, because the rights of police officers in that respect are exactly the same — no less, no more — as those of any other citizen. That is the problem. As the right hon. Gentleman will know, the Metropolitan Commissioner has made it clear that if fresh evidence comes to light on the incident that evidence will fall to be investigated.