§ 2.42 p.m.
§ Lord Allen of AbbeydaleMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, in view of the need to strengthen the Metropolitan Police, what steps are being taken to reduce the average time of nine months which it now takes before a successful applicant to join is finally accepted.
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, the commissioner is well aware of the need to process applications to join the force as quickly as possible and keeps his procedures under constant review. I understand that improvements made over the last year have contributed towards a 50 per cent. increase in the number of recruits attested in the first six months of this year compared with the same period last year. Some of the causes of delay are beyond the commissioner's control.
§ Lord Allen of AbbeydaleMy Lords, it is obviously important to take the greatest possible care over selection, but even so I learnt with something approaching incredulity, in reply to a Written Question of mine that the process of dealing with applications averaged 39 weeks. Grateful though I am 208 to the noble Viscount for his Answer, I am afraid that it falls some way short of giving complete enlightenment.
Therefore, may I ask whether the young people who apply to join the force are told at the outset that they will have to wait eight, nine or 10 months before they know their fate? Has any estimate been made of the number of promising applicants who, as the months go by, find that they simply cannot afford to wait any longer or get fed up and withdraw their applications?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, the figure of 39 weeks was the average figure for the intake of recruits who joined the force last January. Figures for earlier intakes are not available. The 50 per cent. increase in the number of recruits attested in the first half of this year strongly suggests that the average elapsed time has decreased.
The delay in individual cases in that particular intake ranged between 24 and 77 weeks. Many applicants are therefore processed rather more quickly than the average figure would suggest. The Metropolitan Police are well aware of the need to streamline their procedures wherever possible and are taking steps to ensure that that is done.
Lord InglewoodMy Lords, can my noble friend inform the House what sort of interval exists when men apply to our provincial police forces? It would be helpful to know whether or not the figures given for the Metropolitan Police are typical for England.
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, I am afraid that I do not have figures for the provincial forces. However, I can say further to the noble Lord, Lord Allen, that there are certain factors under the commissioner's control. One factor is the time taken to make inquiries about applicants and to interview them; and the second is the time which elapses before a successful candidate can join an intake. There are other factors outside the commissioner's control.
§ Lord MellishMy Lords, is the noble Viscount aware that I asked a Question some time ago about the training period for police? The noble Viscount assured me that it was being cut down and that it was not as long as it used to be. That was very encouraging. Is the noble Viscount further aware that the establishment figures he gave recently are very pleasing indeed in that today we are not far away, for the first time in many years, from the Metropolitan Police having the numbers required?
I pose again a question which I doubt the noble Viscount can answer. In the event of the Metropolitan Police reaching the establishment figure, would he then kindly tell Sir Kenneth Newman that he has permission to ask for more?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, the commissioner has already been told that he will be able to have increases of up to 1,850 in the operational strength of the force over the next four years. The commissioner is making every effort to reach the new establishment figure as quickly as possible. He cannot give any firm guarantees, but he aims to reach the new figure by the end of March next year.
§ Lord RochesterMy Lords, 24 weeks may be shorter than the average period, but is not a delay of 77 weeks much longer?
§ Viscount DavidsonYes, my Lords, but that is probably due to the fact that the period of notice required by the applicants' existing employers can be as much as four months and the fact that some applicants are in the final year of university or college. There is also the time taken by the provincial forces to carry out some of the initial work on applicants living outside the Metropolitan Police district.
§ Lord MishconMy Lords, while sharing completely the description given by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharpies, of this being a happy day, I have, I hope, no intention of drawing your Lordships' attention to the period of time mentioned in this Question. Does not the noble Viscount the Minister agree that the answers he has given about time relate to the time between an application and acceptance of the application as against the time between application and joining the force, which is a very different time indeed? Is the noble Viscount aware that in regard to the time between application and acceptance there have been periods as short as 12 weeks and as long as 65 weeks, and that applications vary so much that to take an average is terribly misleading?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Mishcon. I cannot say anything other than that I agree with him.
§ Baroness Masham of IltonMy Lords, in view of the vast, increasing problem of illegal drugs, may I ask the Minister what is the increase in the drug squad in the Metropolitan Police area?
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, I gave the answer to that question some time ago and I am afraid that I cannot find it. However, there has been an increase.
Viscount St. DavidsMy Lords, is the noble Viscount aware that there is a method of shortening this period? I am sure he knows that the actual training to be a policeman takes a fairly long time. Could not an applicant at least start on this training and have a few weeks of it, which would do no harm to the public or to the applicant, while his application was still being considered? If he is rejected, no harm will have been done, and if he is accepted the period will have been considerably shortened.
§ Viscount DavidsonMy Lords, all I can do is to draw the noble Viscount's views to the attention of the commissioner.
If I may be allowed to say so, I have now found the answer to the question asked by the noble Baroness, Lady Masham of Ilton. Another 50 officers will be attached to the drug squad.