Dame Meg Hillier
MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch · Labour (Co-op) · United Kingdom
“On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker, I have huge respect for the Minister, but she has said that she will not take any interventions. She is a very good Minister, and I trust that she will answer in detail the points that have been raised in the House today; having discussions with her and the Government after the debate is too late…”
“My hon. Friend talks about who makes our laws, and she has talked in articles that she has written about the primacy of this place. If the Bill goes forward, is she willing to accept amendments?”
“I welcome my right hon. Friend to her place and thank her for that response, which demonstrates the complications of these schemes. I asked the National Audit Office to look into this, and yesterday the Public Accounts Committee published its report on compensation schemes, suggesting that a central body be established.”
“I am pleased by my right hon. Friend’s answer, but she is in a unique position across Government to ensure that we are protecting not only women, but those who are blind or have visual impairments, who really value this technology.”
“I welcome the Chancellor’s clampdown on speculation and leaks ahead of the Budget; it is certainly an important step he has taken. On the issue of certainty, the National Wealth Fund is a critical investor in crowding in private investment around the UK. I noted that he has changed the remit.”
“Further to the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Tom Hayes), it is important that we talk here and that we have diplomacy, but what practical actions are the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence taking to ensure that there is a review of physical defence and security, so that we send a clear message to t…”
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“Although negotiations are still in progress, it is expected that a one-off lump sum will be paid by the UK Border Agency to the supporting organisation. That is one of the reasons for the complications: a great many organisations are involved, and it is important for us to give Government money—taxpayers’ money—to organisations that we know to have a good track record. Further work is being done. Unfortunately not enough time is available for me to describe all of it, but it is worth mentioning our specialist domestic violence courts, independent domestic violence advisers and multi-agency risk assessment conferences, all of which are key to supporting victims of domestic violence. We are collecting ethnicity data to ensure that those services are reaching all communities.”
“That affects not just those women but their children, and a wider network of people. We have been working to try to deal with it. I am partly responsible for some of the work of the UK Border Agency. The DCLG has been working with the agency and other groups, including a network of local authorities, to explore better solutions. As I said earlier, we are developing a scheme that will provide a contribution to the housing and living costs of people who are granted indefinite leave to remain as the spouse or partner of a United Kingdom national, but who are then subject to domestic violence within their two-year probationary period. I should be happy to discuss that and some of the surrounding issues with my hon. Friend on another occasion, because we need to get it right.”
“We believe that the scheme that we announced in March last year will strengthen the way in which domestic violence cases are considered, enabling the vulnerable victims described by my hon. Friend to gain access to additional support. We have been working closely with the No Recourse to Public Funds network and other stakeholders on the details of the scheme. It has taken longer than it should have, but we must get it right. The delay is frustrating for all of us who are involved, but it is important for us to launch a scheme that it is effective, rather than launching a scheme for the sake of meeting a deadline. About 500 women try to escape from abusive partners each year, but cannot gain access to emergency housing or other benefits because of their immigration status.”
“We have been working with the statutory and voluntary sectors to find ways in which to support victims with no recourse to public funds. We are also discussing one of the points that my hon. Friend raised with the Association of Chief Police Officers: we are trying to establish whether ACPO can assist in the process of obtaining formal documents such as passports for women applying for indefinite leave to remain on grounds of domestic violence. We need to obtain the evidence. We need a reasonable threshold, but not a bar that will make it too difficult for women in the circumstances described so eloquently and movingly by my hon. Friend to gain such status.”
“The Department for Communities and Local Government has commissioned three pieces of homelessness and domestic violence research. Each of those projects will involve consideration of the needs of specific groups, including black and minority ethnic households. We want to understand better what provision is out there, and whether it meets current need. There will be a report late in 2009. I have already asked officials in the DCLG to ensure that my hon. Friend the Member for Northampton, North is kept informed and updated on the progress of the research, and will alert Ministers in the Department as well. I think it important for her expertise to be used. My hon. Friend raised the issue of foreign-born wives and those with uncertain immigration status. That issue is important to me, as an immigration Minister.”
“For example, we are putting nearly £1 million into a matrix of helplines to support a range of victims. It is sensible for some money to come from central Government, but we also need to ensure that we allow for the responsiveness that local funding can, at its best, provide. Where there are problems, we are monitoring them by examining the data of the groups accessing these services and by making other evaluations. We know that we need to do more to ensure that victims of domestic violence in black and minority ethnic communities also benefit from interventions. Our delivery plan for 2008-09 specifically includes activity to support those groups, and that work will continue into 2009-10. Let me give some examples.”
“In a couple of sentences, my hon. Friend has encapsulated the challenges of dealing with what are often small groups, although the Southall Black Sisters are well established. He is right to focus on the distance between Whitehall and those groups and to highlight the key role that local authorities play. I will certainly ensure that Ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government are aware of my hon. Friend’s concerns in that direction. It is for them to take up these issues as well as for the Home Office to deal with them overall, working with other colleagues in government to promote issues around domestic violence and provide the solutions that we are trying to draw up. I should say that we make some central allocations of funding.”
“For example, an individual could be prohibited from visiting internet chat rooms, from circulating in certain areas or from being within a certain distance of a playground or someone’s address. There are important interim measures prior to prosecution, because we should not have to wait until someone has committed a crime and been put on the sex offenders register before we take action. It is important to have those interim steps in place to protect individuals. That, plus good disclosure, can do an awful lot on the preventive side, and we all agree that prevention is vital.”
“The new rights for parents and carers are an important addition to the range of tools. The sex offender register is important, and the comparison with Europe is stark. We monitor people when they have been put on the register, and they are kept track of because they must register their address if it changes, which gives the police and other agencies the opportunity to keep a close eye on what they are doing to try to prevent reoffending. We can also manage sex offenders who want to travel abroad, because we can impose foreign travel orders to prevent them from travelling, and we have the useful tool of sexual offences prevention orders, which place restraints on the behaviour of offenders who pose a risk of serious sexual harm.”
“There has been investment in expert agencies and individuals necessary to protect children and to bring offenders to justice, including a new Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, which has been in operation for two years since 2006, and there are specialist prosecutors in every area. Support for victims, including dedicated child abuse investigation units in all police forces, and special measures to help children give evidence in court proceedings are also important. I have had dealings with my local protection team in Hackney—it is important for all of us to be involved locally—and I am impressed by the level of work generally in ensuring that victims are at the heart of what happens. There may be issues about the case that the hon. Gentleman has raised, but on the whole we generally get it right.”
“Gentleman will follow closely, as a number of us will, how the pilots work and whether they can be extended to other areas, possibly including his own. The Government’s overall approach to paedophiles and ensuring that children are protected has many parts. The police must have the necessary legal tools to manage the behaviour of child sex offenders. Multi-agency public protection arrangements have been in place since 2000, and their purpose is to ensure that all local agencies work together actively to manage the riskiest individuals and to share information whenever necessary. There is a lot of talk about not sharing information, but in this matter, whatever our views of other matters, I am sure that the House agrees that sharing information about dangerous individuals is vital to protect children.”
“They are taking place not in the hon. Gentleman’s area, but on a force-wide basis in Warwickshire, Cleveland, Hampshire—a police force not far from the hon. Gentleman’s own—and Cambridgeshire. That will allow those responsible for children, who are developing a relationship or having contact with an adult, whom they wish to protect to make inquiries of their own to request information about that individual to make their own judgments about how to protect their own children or children in their care. This is a proportionate step to take in tackling some of the concerns that the hon. Gentleman has raised in relation to this case. It is right that we proceed gradually and steadily on a four-area basis. I am sure that the hon.”
“The Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 makes that a statutory duty, and it is important that the process is applied proportionally. The hon. Gentleman mentioned concerns about human rights. The legislation is clear—it allows disclosure to protect the public. As a Home Office Minister and an MP, I say that it is important that the human rights of victims are adhered to. I know that the local police would not have said that the human rights of this gentleman were an issue in respect of not disclosing information. Perhaps the hon. Gentleman would like to take that matter up directly with the assistant chief constable. Disclosure, when it works well, is important. That is why the Government have introduced four pilots around the country. The pilots started in September, and we will be evaluating their progress in about a year.”
“Generally, disclosure should be sufficient to enable the disclosed information about a person to protect anyone that it needs to. That is possibly the issue that the hon. Gentleman has raised in this case. I cannot talk about the individual case that he has mentioned, but that is the important general point. Disclosure is based on the 2007 guidance on national multi-agency public protection arrangements, which means that disclosure must be considered where it will protect the public. The agencies that are part of MAPPA can make disclosures about offences, when necessary. That means that all the agencies that the hon. Gentleman has mentioned in his speech have guidance that allows them to make those disclosures.”
“We have a rigorous system, which is among the best in the world. I am the European Minister at the Home Office, and I regularly represent our interests in Europe. It is clear from discussion in Europe that we are well ahead of the game. We have higher protection and monitoring standards than almost any other European country, and other countries around the world can learn lessons from what we are doing. We do not rest on our laurels. We recognise that we have systems in place that, on the whole, work pretty well. The hon. Gentleman raised some specific points about disclosure. It is important to highlight some of the general issues in respect of disclosure. I shall mention some disclosure pilots that are taking place around the country.”
“Gentleman about the important work that the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and all the other agencies do in undertaking a difficult task. I am concerned about the hon. Gentleman’s comments about Thames Valley police. I have been in contact with the assistant chief constable for that force, who has confirmed that he is happy to continue to engage with the hon. Gentleman on this matter, as he has done in the past. I trust that that relationship will become one of honesty and openness, because it is important that we, as Members of Parliament, have such a relationship with our local police forces, with which we work closely on many issues. Of course, the hon. Gentleman is right to want to scrutinise all his local agencies, and we have no problem with that. The Government are absolutely committed to protecting our children from harm.”
“Gentleman has mentioned, but I do not believe that we have an absolute breakdown in the system. The system is challenging to operate, because we work across the board with the multi-agency public protection arrangements groups. Locally, in the hon. Gentleman’s area, the strategic management board of MAPPA will work with the proposed review to learn about whether there any lessons to be learned in respect of future practice for the relevant agencies throughout the country. Any lessons that can be learned from this case that give a wider view on things will be taken into consideration. The hon. Gentleman has asked for a pledge that there will be a review or inquiry. I reassure him, his constituent and other victims of that man that that will take place. I agree with the hon.”
“Gentleman is kept in touch with the outcome of that case so that he can keep his constituent fully informed. It is important that this process takes its course and that we find out from it whether there are wider lessons to be learned. It is important to stress that this is an unfortunate case. Any child who is a victim of a paedophile is a real victim. Nothing can make it right for the young boy the hon. Gentleman has mentioned or for the other victims of this man. We have robust systems in place overall, and they work overall. There is no general crisis in the system of paedophile supervision, but we are not complacent. It is important to learn lessons from any incident where there has been a problem and a particular issue, such as the one that the hon.”
“It is a pleasure, as ever, to serve under your chairmanship, Lady Winterton. I congratulate the hon. Member for Reading, East (Mr. Wilson) on securing this debate on a vital issue for us all. I feel strongly about this matter as a parent and as a constituency Member of Parliament, and it is important that the issue has been raised. As he is aware, I cannot go into detail about this specific case, but I can say that there are clearly issues that he is concerned about. I understand that there has been a decision by the local safeguarding children board to commission a serious case review arising out of those concerns. That has only just been decided, and I can give the hon. Gentleman no detail now. However, I pledge to make sure that the relevant Minister is informed, so that the hon.”
“I pledge today to ensure that if he has any concerns or queries about the case and contacts me in the first instance, I will ensure that he receives a proper response from the relevant Minister on the particular points that he wants to raise. I hope that that, with the review, will give him some comfort and assurance that the Government take the matter seriously. We will do our best to ensure that we learn any lessons from the case. Question put and agreed to. Adjourned accordingly at one minute to Two o’clock.”
“We do not rest on our laurels, and every case in which agencies are involved rightly requires that we examine what has happened and that we review, check and ensure that everything was done that could be done. I hope that the review in the hon. Gentleman’s area will give him some comfort that the matter is being taken seriously, and that if there are lessons to be learned, they will not only be learned about local practice, but will be rolled out so that any issues that should be taken up nationally will be. I am not into buck-passing, because I speak as a Minister and I take responsibility for that, but it may be appropriate for other Ministers to have contact with the hon. Gentleman on some of the issues around the case.”
“As a result, we have placed a duty on all MAPPA-responsible authorities to consider, in every case, whether information on a child sex offender’s convictions should be disclosed to a member of the public to prevent a risk of serious harm to a child. I hope that our pilots will give some comfort to the hon. Gentleman, if not in the particular case that he raised, that we have a well-planned way of ensuring that disclosure is further improved for parents and those caring for children when they are not aware of contact with paedophiles in the early stages. Overall, we are proud of our achievements. We do things differently from other European countries and other countries around the world.”
“One wants the prosecution, but if it can be done in any way that does not expose the child to further harm, that should be considered. We should not rule out the opportunity for the CPS to make that decision, if there are concerns about particular cases. In June 2007, we published the review of the protection of children from sex offenders following a comprehensive review of the arrangements for managing sex offenders and assessment of what more can be done to help to protect children from sex offenders. The review set out a range of actions to improve the management of sex offenders in the community.”
“We have introduced dedicated child abuse investigation units into all police forces, and rolled out specialist sexual offence officers and rape prosecutors in every area, which is a sensible step. We have also introduced special measures to help children give evidence in court proceedings. Nevertheless, there are cases when, rather than putting a child through court, the CPS is legally able to make a judgment on a better way of achieving the end that we seek—prosecution—without having to put a vulnerable child through the difficult process of a court action. It is right that the CPS can take such decisions locally, based on the detailed knowledge that it has gathered. Speaking as a mother—heaven forbid that it would ever happen to any of my children—the judgment is difficult.”
“Gentleman has raised, but we all recognise that online grooming by paedophiles is serious and increasing. I hope that in time the national identity card scheme will help to prevent that, as the scheme in Belgium helps parents to protect their children from dealing with adults online. The centre brings together everyone with an interest in and knowledge of the area. It has a national remit, which includes gathering and co-ordinating intelligence on high-risk child sex offenders and helping to track them in both the UK and, crucially, overseas. We have seen recent headlines about people travelling from one country to another to carry out awful crimes.”
“They help to ensure that local agencies work together to prevent abuse and neglect, and if there are any issues about that working together in Reading—I am not saying that there are—the review should uncover that. The multi-agency public protection arrangements were established by the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000. The agencies have a legal duty to work in partnership with each other so that there is a balance between sensible working and what is legally required The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre has been in existence for two years. It is a law-enforcement agency that brings together police officers, child protection experts and IT specialists from across the public, private and voluntary sectors. I do not want to digress too much from the circumstances of the case that the hon.”
“We have a review under way, and it would be reasonable to ask the police, as part of that review, to consider specifically whether any disclosures that were made in the case to which the hon. Gentleman has raised, were insufficient in line with the law and the guidance. The question is reasonable, and I am sure that the hon. Gentleman will engage as well as he can with the review. The request is not unreasonable. Local safeguarding children boards have undertaken to oversee the review locally. They involve local organisations that work together—the local authority, the police and social services—and have a legal duty to work to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in that area.”
“We take this matter very seriously, and the Home Office is keen to stamp out extreme crime—indeed, any crime. In the case raised by the hon. Gentleman, after a lengthy police operation involving more than 50 police officers, the individuals concerned received 12 years each in the case of the three men who pleaded guilty and four years in the other case. I think that those sentences speak for themselves, as the maximum possible would have been 14 years, so I think that that is a good result. We have strengthened the law to enable us to prosecute people who take this unacceptable action. The Home Office tries hard to ensure that we get the right balance—the hon. Gentleman properly alluded to it—between allowing experimentation where no other alternative is possible and making sure that extremists are caught.”
“The issue is not just about knives sold in shops, but those sold on the internet. My hon. Friend should be commended for his efforts in promoting awareness of knife crime for many years. It is interesting to note that Lancashire—including Blackpool, of course—is one of the areas involved in the tackling knives action plan. When the police used their search equipment, they found no weapons, but their test purchase operations during the weekend of 18-19 October, which concentrated on markets and discount shops, recorded a 40 per cent. failure by those shopkeepers to follow procedures when they sold weapons to under-age people. Prosecutions are now pending; I look forward to the results coming through.”
“Taking DNA from all permanent residents of the UK would mean sampling at least 56 million people. The laboratory costs of processing that alone would be more than £1 billion, without even adding the costs to the police of running a larger database. The Home Office and the Government have no plans to introduce a compulsory DNA database.”
“I would not want to characterise my hon. Friend’s contributions in the House, but the phrase “regardless of cost” says quite a great deal. Ministers have to balance cost with practical reality. I stress that the fact that someone is on the database does not mean that they have a criminal record and does not confer any disadvantage or slight on the individual. The fact that someone is on the database comes to light only if a DNA sample is recovered from a crime scene.”
“One of the groups established shortly after I began this job just over a year ago was the DNA ethics group. It will publish its annual report next week and I look forward to using it and other issues, including questions in the House, to have a further debate about the importance of DNA in our criminal justice system.”
“There would have been a number of cases where people were arrested but not proceeded against. Matches in crime scenes since December 2005 alone reveal more than 3,000 offences, including 37 murders, 16 attempted murders and 90 rapes.”
“I cannot quite believe the torrent of misinformation from the hon. Gentleman. Let us be clear: more than 87 per cent. of under-18s who had their DNA taken were charged, convicted, cautioned or given a final warning, and only 12.8 per cent. were not. That reflects the reality with regard to under-18s. Other countries are looking closely at Britain’s protocols and processes. The US Department of Justice has conducted research into the British system and speaks of the “success of this strategy”. The hon. Gentleman massively twisted my words about costs. It is right that we balance cost, but there is no Government policy for a compulsory DNA database.”
“The decision whether to accept a previous CRB check needs to be made by the employer. Currently the CRB is not involved if a previous disclosure is accepted. However, the advent of the independent safeguarding authority will allow continuous monitoring, especially for the teachers whom my hon. Friend mentioned and anybody working with children or vulnerable adults. That body will be able to update the employer at any point if the employee’s status changes.”
“This is an area that I am discussing a great deal with colleagues in Europe. I remind the hon. Gentleman that our introduction of identity cards for foreign nationals, which will start in November, will significantly help us to determine the identity of, and thereby perform greater checks on, individuals working in Britain and their legality. We are also discussing with several countries how better to exchange criminal data about people, but the onus has to be on the employer to decide whether they have the relevant information from people. There are complications in that some acts that would be considered crimes in this country are not criminal offences in the country of origin.”
“We estimate that ID cards will prevent at least £310 million of ID fraud as they are implemented. Clearly, the benefits of the ID card scheme will increase as take-up increases after the 2011 roll-out to the general population.”
“The Government’s position on compulsion is absolutely clear and has been from the moment the ID card scheme was first mooted. We believe that once ID cards have been rolled out to the general population, and then only if there is wide acceptance of the scheme, the Government of the day could make a proposal to Parliament to vote on whether ID cards should be compulsory, but there are no plans for compulsion at the point of introduction in 2011. [ Interruption. ] I am being interrupted by sedentary comments, so it is worth adding that 80 per cent. of British citizens currently have passports, and we envisage that, about 10 years after the roll-out in 2011, we will see a similar take-up of either passports or ID cards for the population, which is a pretty good coverage.”
“I am really rather sad that Her Majesty’s Opposition have sunk to such pathetic depths to scaremonger in that way. Let me make it really clear, if it was not clear already: the legislation that has passed through the House makes it absolutely clear that there is no compulsion to carry an ID card. Furthermore, section 13 of the Identity Cards Act 2006 prohibits the presentation of the card specially to access a public service. There is a difference, however, for foreign national identity cards, and I challenge the hon. Gentleman and his party to tell us where they stand on whether foreign nationals should be compulsorily required to have an identity card, as part of their immigration status in this country.”
“That limits the opportunities to look at that pot of money.”
“It is a mark of the differences and changes over the years that in 1993 only 16 forces nationally had any form of air support, but today 39 of 43 forces have direct access to aircraft, with 34 helicopters and four fixed-wing planes available to the police nationally, although procured on the basis of local demands and resources. The hon. Gentleman mentioned the funding provided by the Home Office, in the funding round that we are approaching at the moment, with a capital pot of £5 million available for part-funding the capital purchase of helicopters. Because the Wiltshire helicopter was purchased under a private finance initiative arrangement, the aircraft belongs to Police Aviation Services, as the hon. Gentleman mentioned. We cannot put Home Office investment into an asset that belongs to that organisation rather than the police.”
“I am grateful for the work done by both the police and the helicopter emergency medical service, which is carried out on a 24/7 basis. The teams work long hours, which is very impressive. It was interesting and instructive to learn—from the review that the hon. Gentleman mentioned—that Wiltshire and Sussex are the only two counties with a joint operation. We should consider that model for the future. In a moment, I will touch on what is happening with the review, as the hon. Gentleman asked. There are clearly financial benefits to linking services, which enables the air ambulance to operate at night because of the capacity of the police helicopter and the equipment therein. The current national air support strategy for the police has served police services since 1993, but there has been no meaningful review for 14 years.”
“They have been used to target criminal activity and have improved safety on dangerous vehicle pursuits. In this instance, in which the aircraft is shared, we have seen benefits to the public, which is what we all, as Members of Parliament, are most interested in. The vital role of delivering emergency care to people across south-west England has proved an effective and faster way of getting people to hospital and supporting inter-hospital transfers. The hon. Gentleman mentioned the amount of money that has been raised by the public. Clearly, the service has had enormous support from the public. People have been dipping into their pockets to pay for it. They also support the work that has been done by the medical and trauma teams.”
“As he quite helpfully pointed out, I do not have responsibility for the national health service; I have plenty of other things on my plate. There are important issues about the autonomy of local police and ambulance authorities. It is not the role of the Home Office to direct, at a close local level, individual operational decisions. It is for Wiltshire constabulary, the police authority, neighbouring police forces and the air ambulance charities to determine their own operational needs. It is important to recognise that the Government do not run everything from Whitehall. We do not have any locus in this area and neither do the Department of Health or the National Policing Improvement Agency, for which I have some responsibility. From the Home Office perspective, police helicopter operations are very important.”
“By working with its local ambulance service and co-locating some of its services, Wiltshire has been one of the most forward thinking police authorities. Perhaps other parts of the country could learn from such an operation. The contract has been running for nearly 10 years and is due for renewal from December this year. Contract negotiations are ongoing. The Great Western ambulance service has asked for an extension to the contract while it carries out a review of the area’s clinical need for helicopter services. I understand that the police are pressing for a further five-year contract. As the hon. Gentleman said, the two parties are still in negotiation over that point. As the hon. Gentleman appreciates, there are limits to the Home Office’s reach in such areas.”
“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship for the first time, Mr. Atkinson. I congratulate the hon. Member for Salisbury (Robert Key) on securing this debate. The point about the interest in the service has been well made both by the presence of four other hon. Members and by the support of others who were not able to be here today. I recognise the concerns that the hon. Gentleman raised about the future funding arrangements of the combined police and air ambulance operation. The unit provides police air support and helicopter emergency medical services to the people of Wiltshire. Significantly, the helicopter has been provided under a private finance initiative and is based at the Devizes headquarters of the Wiltshire constabulary. The PFI contract has been going for a long time.”
“Gentleman has used his influence effectively and no one in Wiltshire can be in any doubt about his commitment, and the commitment of the public, to the joint service. There is an opportunity for him to contact Chief Constable Hogan-Howe. I will make sure that I answer the point about funding issues in writing and I will also keep him up to date on progress on the review programme, so that—I hope—by July we will have the results.”
“Funding is allocated chiefly through the police formula grant to allow police forces and authorities the flexibility to determine their local priorities, which we have already mentioned. The ACPO air operations working group provides national co-ordination and support to police air operations and the review will be helpful in that respect. Chief Constable Bernard Hogan-Howe, who is leading the review and leads on police air operations overall, is able to lend the group’s support to any forces to overcome any difficulties. If the hon. Gentleman has not already made contact with Chief Constable Hogan-Howe, he may wish to do so to see if he can use his weight, along with my words today, in support of a solution to the issue. The hon.”
“The review will consider all issues to do with where a helicopter is based and co-operation options. It will be down to ACPO to finalise the detail. I hope that it will note good practice where it works, take those lessons and apply them more widely. That is a matter for the review. Whatever the recommendations of the review, decisions need to be made locally, as an operational matter, between the local force and air ambulance service. I am sure that hon. Members agree that the Home Office’s and the Government’s commitment to policing is demonstrated by the fact that we have increased the police grant by more than 60 per cent., or £3.7 billion, between 1997 and 2010-11.”
“Gentleman talked about and which I mentioned on 13 April in respect of police air operations in England and Wales, will provide a framework for what we envisage and hope for in the next 10 years and will be updatable as necessary. We are making progress on that. The draft report is currently with Chief Constable Hogan-Howe and the first meeting to discuss it will be tomorrow morning at about 9 am, so I cannot tell the hon. Gentleman exactly where we are with that, because we are a day ahead of ourselves—if only we had had this debate tomorrow afternoon. The aim is that the chief officers council will see the proposals in or around July, although I cannot predict a precise time. I am happy to keep in contact with the hon. Gentleman and ensure that he is made aware of progress.”