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Policing and Crime Bill

I must admit that I have great sympathy with the point made by my noble friend Lord Campbell-Savours about scrutiny in the other place, but I do not think that I will go there at the moment. It would be inconsistent with other provisions in the Police Act to include a provision in the clause on police collaboration agreements to mandate consultation with bodies representing employees, as there is no similar provision about consulting them on other strategic changes to policing. I think that it would be unnecessary, too. It is well recognised that collaborative working impacts on the work of some police staff. For this reason, the statutory guidance supporting the revised framework will make clear the need to involve unions and staff associations representing the interests not only of employees but of warranted officers. I think that that was the statutory guidance to which my noble friend referred. That will be done from early on in the development of collaboration projects. This is one of the lessons learnt by those already engaged in collaborations. The essence of the amendment is certainly very good advice, and we encourage the approach, but it does not need to be enshrined in statute. In developing the statutory guidance, unions and staff associations are among the wide range of interested parties being consulted. I might point out that UNISON, which represents the majority of police authority employees, and the Police Federation have both signalled their desire to contribute and are doing so through the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales. I hope that this gives my noble friend the confidence that he was looking for. I suggest that guidance on the full breadth of consultation appropriate to collaborations, developed with these representative organisations themselves, is the sensible approach. I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.