§ 2.42 p.m.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Secretary of State will, as soon as possible, consider under powers contained in Section 21, subsection (2), of the Police Act, 1964, the amalagamation of the mobile road patrols of appropriate police forces and so enable a more intensive discipline of road traffic behaviour to be brought to particular congested areas and heavily trafficked roads, and so make a major contribution to the alleviation of road accidents.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (LORD DERWENT)My Lords, Section 21 of the Police Act, 1964, enables two or more police areas to be amalgamated in certain circumstances, but it does not provide for the amalgamation of the mobile road patrols of different police forces, separately from the amalgamation of police areas as a whole, as envisaged by the noble Lord. The Act does provide, in Section 13, for collaboration arrangements to be 1012 made between forces, of the kind which have recently been tried out on the M.6 motorway. The lessons to be learned from this experiment are now being considered. If the noble Lord has in mind the question of the adoption by the police of uniform policies in the enforcement of the traffic laws, I may say that my right honourable friend the Home Secretary has commended to the police the recommendation of the Royal Commission to that effect. The Police Research and Planning Branch in the Home Office is at present carrying out a review, based on returns obtained from all forces, which will provide a basis for further discussion with chief constables.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMy Lords, will the noble Lord accept my thanks for the helpfulness of his reply? In fact, it is so helpful that it encourages me to believe that the Government are at last waking up to the fact that prevention is better than cure, and that an increase in the number of mobile police on the roads will act as an antidote to road accidents. May I ask two further questions? Under Section 21, subsection (2), of the Police Act, which came into force on July 1, his right honourable friend has the power to cause amalgamations to come about. Do I understand from what the noble Lord has said that his right honourable friend does not intend to wait for the local authority Commission to report before taking the necessary steps to see that, in appropriate cases, amalgamations of the whole police forces, including the mobile forces, take place?
My second question is this. If the assumption in my first question is correct, will the noble Lord ask his right honourable friend to give special attention to the position obtaining at the present time in Lancashire, Cheshire and Staffordshire, one of the most densely trafficked areas of the country which has 23 chief constables and 23 police forces trying to cope with the problem he has just envisaged? I have one other question. Is the noble Lord aware that, further to the South, the anomalous geographical position cries aloud for an amalgamation of the police forces of Oxford City, Oxford County, Berkshire County and Reading Borough?
§ LORD DERWENTMy Lords, there are really three supplementary questions 1013 to answer. The answer to the first one is that Her Majesty's Government have always been awake.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHI did not say "awake": I said "aware".
§ LORD DERWENT"Awake", I think, was the word which the noble Lord used. The answer to the second supplementary question is that my right honourable friend has not got to wait for the report of the Boundary Commission, although the noble Lord will realise that it will probably be wise to do so in most cases; otherwise, we shall have alterations in a police force twice over. But the point is that he does not in fact have to wait. As regards the amalgamation of police forces in particular areas, this will be a matter for consideration between my right honourable friend, the local authorities and the chief constables, and before the negotiations have taken place I should not like to mention any particular area as being likely to amalgamate or not amalgamate.
§ LORD LUCAS OF CHILWORTHMay I ask the noble Lord whether the sum total of what he has said is that it is realised that a proper and more coordinated effort on behalf of the police will have a major effect upon the number of road accidents in this country?
§ LORD DERWENTWe are of the opinion that certain amalgamations will have a beneficial effect not only on the enforcement of road traffic laws but on general police services.
§ LORD BALFOUR OF INCHRYEMy Lords, will the Minister make it clear that, even where there is no amalgamation of mobile forces, officers of one area are nevertheless perfectly free to pursue any particular case to a conclusion, although the conclusion takes place outside their area and in the area of another mobile force?
§ LORD DERWENTMy Lords, already, all over the country, chief constables are using their forces jointly for particular purposes. On the M.6, of course, that is being done; and on the M.1, too. That is regarding traffic. But on many other matters, also, chief constables are increasingly working together with adjoining forces. They are in fact encouraged to do so by my right honourable friend, and he has circularised 1014 all chief constables to the effect that he recommends joint action when it is necessary.