§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the use of civilian casework officers in the police force to help reduce the paperwork of police officers; and what plans there are to increase their numbers. [13501]
§ Mr. Denham[holding answer 12 November 2001]: While recruitment is a matter for individual chief officers, we are committed to encouraging broader use of support staff to handle the paperwork involved in case preparation. The recently published "Diary of a Police Officer" found that police officers were spending almost as much time in the police station as they were on the street. A large part of this problem results from paperwork and changes are needed to enable officers to focus on delivering policing. The requirement for additional powers to enable support staff to deal with more of this work is being considered as part of the police reform programme.
In the White Paper "Policing a New Century", published on 5 December 2001, my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary announced that he was setting up a task force, chaired by Sir David O'Dowd, to consider how to take forward the recommendations in "Diary of a Police Officer", and other relevant reports, in order to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens on the police.