§ Mr. CartwrightTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what action he has taken on the recommendations of the joint teachers' association, Police Federation working party report on police — school liaison.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe Government welcome co-operation between the teaching profession and the police as reflected in this report. Liaison between police and schools is important not only for education itself, but also for the prevention of crime and for maintaining the essential relationship of trust and confidence between the police and the public.
The report covers very similar grounds to that covered by a report produced jointly by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Society of Education Officers in 1986. The Government circulated this report to all schools and police forces. Both the Home Office and the Department of Education and Science have worked in hand to identify and disseminate examples of good practice in police-schools liaison. The Home Office is financing a research project to evaluate the effectiveness of various methods of police-schools liaison and Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools has begun an examination of good practice in a number of local education authorities.
The arrangements for police-schools liaison need to be developed locally. We understand that since the publication of the 1986 report local working parties have been set up in many areas to develop joint police-schools programmes.