§ 2.40 p.m.
§ LORD ABERDAREMy 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 why they are only allowing 76.5 sq. ft. for student bedrooms in the new Police Training Centre at Cwmbran.]
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, the training centre at Cwmbran is being built in conformity with standards which have the full approval of the Common Police Services Committee. Student bedrooms of the same dimensions, with furniture and wash basins built in to give a clear floor space, have already been provided in two other district police training centres, and experience has shown them to be satisfactory.
§ LORD ABERDAREMy Lords, I thank the noble Baroness for that Answer. Is she aware that there is no police officer on the Common Police Services Committee and that those other bodies which do have police representatives on them, such as the Chief Constables' Training Centre Committee, which expressed grave concern, and the District Local Authorities' Committee, which feels that this space is totally inadequate, are in agreement with the Home Office Memorandum on the planning of police buildings, which lays down a minimum of 100 sq. ft.?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, the standards laid down for accommodation at police recruit training centres are the responsibility of the Common Police Services Committee. The standard that is being applied at the new police recruit centre being planned for Cwmbran (which will be a regional centre) was laid down in 1963. It was reviewed by the Committee as recently as last year and was confirmed. The particular centre under question at the moment was considered again only last month and once again the Committee confirmed their decision to adhere to the standards laid clown in 1963.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, may I ask how this standard of accommodation compares with that which is recognised, I believe, as being right and proper for the student halls of residence and training colleges of education?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, I am not quite sure whether the noble Baroness is in fact comparing like with like. A recent building bulletin of the Department of Education and Science made recommendations to local authorities on standards for student halls of residence which were somewhere between 90 and 100 sq. ft. per student, but I would remind the noble Baroness that a recruit training centre is only intended to serve the recruits for an 11-week course, five days a week. They go home at weekends.
§ LORD DERWENTMy Lords, I am not quite certain whether I have this right. Is it the fact that the Home Office has laid down a standard of 100 sq. ft. and that the training centre at Cwmbran is departing from that standard?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Loris, the Common Police Services Committee has laid down the standard to which Cwmbran is conforming.
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, could the noble Baroness let us know how this standard compares with the standard in Dartmoor Gaol?
§ LORD STRANGEMy Lords, would not the noble Baroness agree that the police, who have rendered such terrific service to this country recently, should be considered particularly in the question of the accommodation in which these young policemen wish to study, and that they have no room to do that in 76.5 sq. ft.?
§ BARONESS SEROTAMy Lords, I am sure the whole House will welcome the building of this new regional recruit centre for the whole of Wales, Which is needed to develop our police forces in that area. I would stress that it is a combined committee of Home Office and local authority personnel who are responsible for the administration of the police in their areas, and this is the standard that they themselves have laid down.