Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Imbert (Crossbench). It was answered on Wednesday, 14 September 2011.

Police: Funding

Question: My Lords, do Her Majesty’s Government expect the British police service to lose its global reputation for being the most accountable, well governed and respected service in the world? If so, do they really care?

Answer: My Lords, not only do we care, but we have every respect for the work done by police forces every day. However, it is time to look at how the police are deployed in these times of austerity—the very title of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate’s report. We have to challenge, as senior police officers are doing up and down the country, the way forces are deployed. For example, we see in the recent report that, astonishingly, there are more front-line police officers on duty on a Monday morning than on a Friday night. Surely that has to be challenged. Surely there are ways better to deploy forces to protect the public and the front line, and to ensure that we maintain the important reputation that the noble Lord is so familiar with.

Secondary information