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Home Office

Answer

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will draw on best practice within the public and private sector to ensure that the skills and abilities of women and ethnic minorities within the police force are developed to their full potential; and if he will make a statement. [213769] Ms Blears: The Government are committed to professionalising the whole police workforce. A central plank of our workforce modernisation programme is to develop and implement improved learning and development for everyone in the service and ensure, in particular, that women and people from ethnic minorities have the opportunity to reach their full potential. The Core Leadership Development Programme will ensure that officers of all levels can develop the important leadership skills that they need to carry out their duties effectively. This programme will be open to officers from sergeant to chief inspector level. It will also be open to police staff--6 per cent. of whom are from minority ethnic backgrounds and 62 per cent. of whom are women--at equivalent levels. We intend to strengthen the Senior Careers Advisory Service to support those with potential for senior leadership. In doing so, we will learn from other organisations' experience and explore joint development opportunities with them, including secondments and exchanges. A career in the police service should be an opportunity for life long learning and development. We want all those working in the police service to have clear career pathways in which to develop their professional skills and have these accredited. We will develop a formal qualifications framework and are considering developing professional registers for the service in line with practice in other professions. Officers and staff will be given the opportunity to keep their skills up to date as they progress through more structured careers. We will put in place mechanisms for continuously developing the operational skills of constables. Officers will be assessed against national occupational standards and we will award those who achieve the standards with a qualification which will be recognised outside the service. We are also considering changes to regulations so that officers will no longer be required to have spent a specific number of years in a particular rank before being eligible for promotion. This will remove barriers to promotion and widen the pool of those who are eligible. We are also keen to identify members of police staff with potential for development and we will look to develop arrangements for a high potential development scheme for police staff similar to that available to officers. Police staff play an increasingly important role in the police service and we are keen to attract more women and people from ethnic minorities into the police service from outside. We intend also to draw on practice elsewhere and encourage members of ethnic minorities with successful careers in other professions to apply for lateral entry to the police service. We will review our promotion and progression procedures to ensure they are fair, transparent and have no adverse impact on women or minority ethnic officers. Any barriers identified will be removed. We will also work closely with the British Association of Women Police to ensure women have the support and opportunities to reach their potential. Part of this will be ensuring that the working environment for women is professional and supportive and that police training will be available on a non- residential and part time basis. More opportunity for flexible working patterns, should provide greater opportunity to gain experience in a wider range of roles.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

431 c1314-5W;431 c1308-9W; 213769

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Career development Women Equality Ethnic groups Qualifications Police Minority groups Modernisation Standards Training Leadership

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk