Police (Insurance of Voluntary Assistants) Bill (Hansard, 3 February 1997)

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.
I must first declare an interest in that this Bill relates to insurance and I am a member of Lloyd's.
This Bill is a modest measure to remedy a gap in the law. But it will be of considerable significance to those men and women who give up their time to help the police.
The Bill is designed to give police authorities in England and Wales the power to hold personal accident insurance cover for members of the public who voluntarily assist the police. Local authorities already have similar powers. The power was also available to the old county police authorities when they were committees of county councils, before the reforms introduced by the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 created the new free-standing police authorities. The decision not to treat the new police authorities like local authorities so that they could hold personal accident insurance for civilian volunteers has been an unfortunate oversight. It is not clear why this arose. The Bill is intended to put all police authorities in England and Wales on the same footing, by giving them this power, in line with local authorities.
Civilians who voluntarily assist the police make an important contribution to the community. In many instances, the police could not manage without their valuable help. We have all read in our papers and seen on our television screens the rescue of people from our mountains and hills. In these dangerous circumstances, voluntary rescue teams, who are trained mountaineers and who know their areas well, assist the police to undertake a search and rescue. They are not paid for what they do. But they may be injured during the course of a rescue or search. Injuries may be due to the dangers inherent in a rescue rather than any negligence on the part of the volunteer or the police.
1506 In 1996 the Select Committee on Scottish Affairs in another place looked into the mountain rescue services in Scotland. At paragraph 23 of its report of June last year it concluded that: the current system of co-operation between volunteer teams, the police and the military provides a service, at little cost to the public purse, that would be hard to improve. Regulation of mountaineering and hill walking, or compulsory insurance for participants, would not enhance the current system or make it cheaper, and would probably have a detrimental effect due to the loss of voluntary mountain rescue teams. The costs of mountain rescue are far outweighed by the economic and social benefits derived from these services". I entirely agree with the sentiments expressed by the Select committee on Scottish Affairs. Voluntary mountain rescue teams provide an invaluable service to the community. I also know that the Government share the view of the committee because in his response to the report published in October last year, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Scotland said: I note with interest the overall conclusion of the Committee in paragraph 23 of the report which is very much in line with the Government's views on how mountain rescue services should be provided". Mountain rescue is one of the most visible types of voluntary support from the public. It is one we all know about, but many perhaps do not realise that it is the police who co-ordinate the rescue and call on the support of rescue teams. Mountain rescue teams are the most obvious group to need personal accident insurance cover. But they are not alone. Voluntary assistants help the police in other capacities. For example, with the rescue of potholers, and large-scale searches for a missing person. Some of our rural police stations have their inquiry desks staffed by volunteers. Police authorities also appoint lay visitors. Lay visitors are unpaid volunteers who observe, comment and report on the conditions in which people are detained at police stations. The nature of the duties performed by such volunteers brings them into regular contact with those visiting police stations or being held in custody. Of necessity, there is a risk that such volunteers will face the possibility of assault and injury.
As it is the police service which calls upon the help of such volunteers, it is only right that the police should be able to arrange the provision of personal accident insurance cover for their voluntary assistants. Insurance cover gives both volunteers and police authorities peace of mind at a minimal cost—around an average of £6,000 per year for each police authority, should each authority choose to hold such insurance cover. That is cheap at the price compared with a potential payout to members of mountain rescue teams of anything up to £150,000 if no insurance cover is provided.
I turn briefly to explain the Bill clause by clause. Clause 1 seeks to provide the necessary powers to the police authorities and is straightforward. Clause 1 amends Section 146A(lA)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 so that outside London the new free-standing police authorities are treated for the purposes of the 1972 Act as local authorities so that they can hold personal accident insurance policies for voluntary 1507 assistants who may be injured while assisting the police. For the purposes of the Bill, voluntary assistants do not include special constables, as subsection (3) of Clause 1 makes clear.
The exclusion of members of the special constabulary from the provisions of this Bill is quite deliberate. Special constables are appointed for a police area and are under the command of senior police officers. They have the powers of a constable. The other voluntary assistants do not. A special constable's conditions of service are therefore significantly different. This is recognised by provision in police regulations for police authorities to provide compensation to special constables who may be injured while on duty. That is not to say that we should be complacent about the need to ensure that police regulations treat special constables fairly. A recent Home Office report on the special constabulary in England and Wales commented on the inadequacy of the level of compensation currently available for special constables, and recommended changes. I understand from Home Office Ministers that they are actively considering changes to police regulations which would improve the level of compensation that can be paid to special constables. Therefore, as special constables are catered for by separate provisions and are in a quite different category to the other voluntary assistants, they have been excluded from the provisions of this Bill.
I turn now to Clause 2 which relates to the Metropolitan Police. As your Lordships know, the police authority for the Metropolitan Police is the Home Secretary. The provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 do not extend to that police force. Specific provision is required so that the Commissioner and the Receiver of the Metropolitan Police district have the same powers as the other chief officers and police authorities in England and Wales in relation to holding personal accident insurance for voluntary assistants. Clause 2 will, therefore, provide to the Metropolitan Police the same powers that will be enjoyed by the other police authorities in England and Wales by virtue of this Bill.
Clause 3 makes a consequential change to Part I of Schedule 2 of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 in relation to insurance of voluntary assistants in the Metropolitan Police. The relevant class of insurance is set out in Section 140(l)(b) of the 1972 Act—namely, that Class 1 for accident insurance in Part I of Schedule 2 of the Insurance Companies Act 1982 will apply to police authorities by the provisions of this Bill. This clause provides for accident insurance as applied by the 1982 Act and Section 140 of the Local Government Act 1972 to extend to the Metropolitan Police.
Finally, we turn to Clause 4. The Bill will extend to England and Wales only. This Bill does not need to extend to Scotland or Northern Ireland. The Scottish Office has confirmed that it considers the Scottish police authorities have adequate powers to take out personal accident insurance cover for volunteers. The Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland) and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities concur with this view.
1508 The position in Northern Ireland is unique. Insurance provisions need to be different there because of the troubled situation that sadly still exists. As your Lordships may know, much of the insurance costs in the Province are picked up by Government. It is not therefore appropriate for the provisions of this Bill to extend to Northern Ireland.
Voluntary assistants play an increasingly important role in supporting our police service. By undertaking these potentially dangerous tasks they leave themselves vulnerable to injury. I hope that your Lordships will agree that the powers this Bill seeks to provide to police authorities will help to nurture the concept of volunteering so that our police service will continue to get the support from the public that it fully deserves. I commend this Bill to your Lordships.
Moved, That the Bill be now read a second time.—{Lord Brabazon of Tara.)

§ Lord McIntosh of Haringey
My Lords, the House will be aware that we do not take a party view on Private Members' Bills. This Bill seems to us to be entirely uncontroversial. The only controversy is as to why the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 was so badly drafted that it left this gap in the law, but one can expect anything of this Government.

The Earl of Courtown
My Lords, I congratulate my noble friend Lord Brabazon of Tara on introducing this Bill to the House. As my right honourable friend the Home Secretary has said, we have the best police service in the world. The Government are committed to providing the police with the resources to enable them to combat and prevent crime, but the police cannot do it all on their own. They need the support, and in some cases the assistance, of the communities they serve. Equally, those men and women who give up their spare time to assist the police should have some protection against accident or injury.
The Bill comes before your Lordships at a very opportune time. In recent weeks there have been reports in police journals and in regional television in the north of England about the need for the police to provide personal accident insurance cover for mountain rescue teams who are called out by the police. Winter is of course the time of year when the work of the mountain rescue teams comes to the fore. It is therefore most appropriate that the question of personal accident insurance for these teams of volunteers who help the police has come before the House at this time. My noble friend has described very eloquently why this Bill is needed. It was unfortunate that the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 overlooked the need to provide the new free standing police authorities with the power to hold personal accident insurance for voluntary assistants. It will not come as a surprise to your Lordships that when Parliament considers major new legislation some minor oversights occur.
The police do an excellent job in tackling crime and creating safer towns and cities. There are over 127,000 police officers in England and Wales. Civilian 1509 support staff are also an important element of our police service today. There are now nearly 53,000 civilians employed by the police service. In addition to civilian employees there is a growing body of volunteer civilians working with our police. There are about 20,000 special constables who have offered to help police their communities for no payment other than expenses and allowances. This help is invaluable not only in increasing the number of bobbies on the beat but in forging a stronger partnership between the police and the public. There are also mountain rescue teams, lay visitors and other volunteers who help to keep rural police stations open by staffing inquiry desks. We do not know how many voluntary assistants there are outside the special constabulary. But if I tell you that one mountain rescue team in Cumbria has more than 120 members and that the number of lay visitors runs well into the hundreds it gives an impression of the numbers of volunteers involved.
This Bill quite correctly deals with those volunteers not covered by specific provisions elsewhere. That is why my noble friend's Bill correctly excludes the largest single group of volunteers, the special constabulary. I can confirm that the Government are actively considering improvements to the compensation paid to special constables by means of secondary legislation. The Government will be bringing forward proposals to amend police regulations in due course. There is therefore no need for special constables to be covered by the provisions of this Bill. As it is the police who call on the help of civilian volunteers, it is absolutely right that the police service should be able to offer those volunteers the comfort and knowledge of the protection of personal accident insurance cover. It is not a large price to pay. As my noble friend says, on average the cost to each police authority would be around £6,000 a year—an insignificant cost to the police service.
The Bill that my noble friend has introduced is a straightforward measure that will amend Section 146A(1A)(a) of the Local Government Act 1972 so that police authorities in England and Wales are treated as local authorities for the purpose of holding personal accident insurance for volunteers. As the Metropolitan Police are not covered by the 1972 Act because the Home Secretary is the police authority, this Bill will put the Metropolitan Police on the same footing as other police forces in England and Wales. The Metropolitan Police are keen that they should be able to hold personal accident insurance cover for voluntary assistants, particularly lay visitors to police stations.
I am sure that the measures set out in this Bill will be welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Committee of Local Police Authorities. There is also cross-party support for this small but important measure. It is right that the police authorities in England and Wales should have the appropriate powers so that they can hold personal accident insurance cover for their voluntary assistants. This Bill will give police forces in England and Wales the same powers as those already available to the police in Scotland. The Government give their full support to this Bill. I commend it to your Lordships.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Mclntosh, for most of his words of support.

Lord Mclntosh of Haringey
Both words!

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I am grateful for his support for the Bill. I take issue with his criticism of the Government. When referring to the mistake in the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act he said that anything could be expected of the present Government. I point out that it is the duty of the Opposition to scrutinise all legislation. Obviously, on that occasion they failed in that duty. That is why we have had to introduce this Bill today. I am also grateful for the words of my noble friend. I beg to move.