§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what training is being given to(a) the police service and (b) the Prison Service on the implications for their work of the incorporation of the Convention on Human Rights into United Kingdom law.[101979]
§ Mr. BoatengTraining in Human Rights issues is already included in a number of courses provided by National Police Training (NPT) including the Probationer Training Programme, when recruits to the police service are made aware of the extent and limitations of their powers as police officers. Human rights issues are also covered in the Strategic Command Course and the Accelerated Promotion Course which are delivered by NPT at Bramshill, and NPT have also held executive seminars for senior officers at Bramshill.
The majority of police training (about 87 per cent.) is delivered in forces. NPT is working with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) on an audit of ACPO policy which may identify service-wide training needs. Work is almost complete on the development of a Human Rights competency framework and further work is under way on the identification of the generic and role specific training needs of officers up to inspector. All NPT courses will be reviewed to ensure that Human Rights awareness is incorporated. Role specific training will focus on those roles, such as that of Custody Officer, which are most likely to be exposed to Human Rights issues.