2 August 2007
Thank you for your questions to Jacqui Smith on crime and security. A transcript of the webchat is available below.
Read the transcript
Moderator says: The Home Secretary is now here to answer your questions on issues such as crime and security, the Government’s response to the recent incidents in Glasgow and London, and her plans for combating future terror threats.
Joseph: Firstly, as a current student of your former University (Worcester), congratulations on your appointment as Home Secretary. Is there really a need for a border police force, or do current agencies such as the police, HM Customs, and HM Immigration Service simply need more money & resources and Home Office co-ordination?
Jacqui replies: Hello. It’s really good to be taking part in this webchat and I’m looking forward to your questions.
Last week, the Prime Minister announced that we would put in place a new unified Border Force. This will mean that people arriving at our border will be met by a unified force bringing together Immigration, Customs and UKvisas staff. We have already worked to strengthen our border, for example, by increasingly expecting people to provide fingerprints when they apply abroad for visas so that these can be checked and we can make sure that the person who applies is the person who actually arrives at the border.
One strong unified force as the primary line at the border will be important in improving security and will be able to work better with Police and with other specialist forces. Last week at Heathrow I was able to see the more visible border officers that we already have at our ports and airports. The new force will strengthen this further.
Bob Meadows: The Home Office have 75% part funded an increase to 16,000 PCSOs countrywide until March 2008. These PCSOs have been well received by the community and contributing to increasing visible policing, improving engagement with the local community and influenced the reduction of incidence of antisocial behaviour.
Will police forces receive that 75% grant for future years and if not how will police forces be expected to pay for the salaries of the newly recruited PCSOs?
Best regards
Bob Meadows
Jacqui replies: I really agree with you about the effectiveness of Police Community Support Officers, Bob. Ten years ago, the role didn’t even exist and now we’ve got 16,000 working in local communities, responding to issues that really matter to local people and providing visible reassurance.
This year, we’re providing £315m for Neighbourhood policing. This is a 41% increase to provide continuing support towards the cost of PCSOs and getting a dedicated Neighbourhood police team into every area by next April.
Ian Dalziel: I was wondering, as there has been a change in the Government personnel, is there a change in the Government’s thoughts as regarding the role of the PCSO. As a more general question, what do you see as the role of the PCSO yourself.
Jacqui replies: Ian, as I said in response to Bob I think the role of PCSOs is to provide visible and responsive support to communities as part of the wider policing family. At the moment, Chief Officers have discretion to decide which of the powers in the Police Reform Act to confer on PCSOs in their force. We are currently looking at the introduction of standard powers to ensure that all PCSOs are able to effectively support Neighbourhood Policing and tackle anti-social behaviour. This will also make sure that the public are clear about what PCSOs can - and cannot - do. There’ll continue to be discretion for Chief Officers, but I think standards will help everyone to be clear about the really important role of PCSOs.
catherine: What are your plans to allow Police officers to ‘get on’ with real policing, rather than form filling or chasing national targets
Jacqui replies:
Catherine, one of the things I’ve been most impressed with since taking on this job has been the dedication of police officers to really making a difference in tackling crime and anti-social behaviour and protecting us from serious threats such as terrorism. And with increased numbers, they’re being successful with crime down by a third since 1997.
Working with police officers themselves, we’ve already managed to significantly cut the number of forms that police had to fill in, but I’m sure there’s more we can do. That’s why we asked Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Chief Inspector of Police to review what more we can do to cut red tape. I know he’s been out and about talking to police officers and others and I’m expecting the first part of his report on this in the Autumn so watch this space!
brian stapley: With all the shootings and stabings over the past few years why can we not implement the Stop and Search laws that we had some years ago?, this could make people think before taking a knife or gun or anyother weapon onto the streets.
Jacqui replies: The Police can still stop and search someone where they’ve got a suspicion that they’re carrying a knife or a gun. But there’s lots more that the Police and other partners can do. In London, for example, the work of Operation Trident has had some important results in tackling gun use. Increasingly, police are using intelligence to track and catch those supplying guns on our streets. Alongside the policing, however, we’ve also given the courts new powers to deal with offenders and we’re working with local groups to help to prevent people from getting involved with gangs, guns and knives in the first place.
M Therning: After terrorist threats and terrorist activity it is very easy to fall into the trap of passing laws that don’t address the problem at hand and in some cases erode our privacy. The ban on liquids on planes come to mind, as do national ID cards, which have been touted as a tool against terrorism. How do you propose avoiding that and making sure that only well-debated, rational laws that address the terrorist threat are passed?
Jacqui replies: Laws do have a role to play in tackling terrorism, although they’re not the whole answer. I agree that we need to make sure that laws need to be well debated which is why we published a consultation document last week on what we’re proposing to include in a Counter Terrorism Bill in the Autumn. It’s on our Home Office website, so I hope you’ll take the opportunity to look at what we’re proposing and give us your comments.
Hans Monsen: Do you consider the British media to be irresponsible when reporting attempted terrorist activities or actual terrorist events? Their shock reporting may actually contribute to a future mass panicking of the population which is exactly what terrorists try to acheive.
Jacqui replies: I agree that terrorists want to disrupt our way of life. That’s why it’s so important that we are resolute in our response, calm in dealing with the threats and clear about what needs to be done not only to avoid the attacks but to prevent people from turning to terrorism in the first place. My experience of the incidents in London and Glasgow that I dealt with in the first weekend I was in this job was of the skill and determination of the police and other agencies and the calm commonsense and bravery of the public in dealing with both the immediate threats and the extra security as a result of them. I think this was reflected in the media as well which I welcome.
Gary Waring: In the Prison Population Brief it states that "A considerable proportion of the 17,762 inmates belonging to an ethnic minority are foreign nationals". As the prison population is at such a high level do you think that foreign nationals should be deported?
Jacqui replies: We have fundamentally reformed the Home Office and our immigration system to ensure that public protection is now our primary concern. All foreign nationals who have served a significant custodial sentence are now considered for deportation. I was able to tell Parliament last week that no foreign national prisoner has been released since April 2006 without first being considered for deportation and this consideration is now taking place 8 months before the earliest date of release. This is why in the year to April 2007, 2784 foreign national prisoners left the country and we expect 4000 to go this year.
Sandra Short: Dear Home Secretary,
First of all, welcome to your new and challenging job.
What are your plans for the thousands of illegal immigrants, that live, work and contribute to the UK economy?
Do you have any plans for an amnesty as it was backed by the 2 of the contestants to the labour leadership, and also backed by the Institute for Public Policy and many other bodies?
Such a move would bring thousands of people who lived in the UK for so many years from the shadow to the mainstream, and such a move would help with tackling the issue of terrorism as you get to know the background of the so many thousands of the so called illegal?
have a good day!
Thank you
Sandra
Jacqui replies: Sandra - thanks for your best wishes. I don’t support an amnesty for those who have come here illegally. I’d be worried that this would encourage more people to come illegally which would be bad for them and for the effectiveness of our immigration system.
My priority is to ensure that decisions about asylum status are taken quickly and where people have permission to stay, they are able to settle into work and their communities as quickly as possible. This also means that people who have to leave will know quickly. There is real progress in delivering this.
With old cases, we have already announced that we want these to be worked through thoroughly and cleared in five years or less.
Malcolm Stentiford: Does the government recognise that the current pace of immigration to the UK is unsustainable and if so, how do you intend to address it?
Jacqui replies: Across the world, increasing numbers of people are travelling to live and work. This is why we have focussed so hard on ensuring that our immigration system is fair, fast and firm. As our economy grows we will manage migration to ensure that we can fill job vacancies and boost the economy whilst always being careful to ensure that we prevent illegal working and the abuse of the system. To get that balance right, we’ve set up the Migration Advisory Committee to advise on who we need in the UK and the Migration Impact Forum to assess the impact of migration on our public services. And we’ve created the Border and Immigration Agency to keep our borders secure, to handle asylum applications quickly and fairly, to track down those here illegally and to ensure migration benefits our country and those who do have a right to come and live in our country.
Roger Miller: In the light of the ongoing threat from terrorism, surely there is a case for the introduction of a simplified form of ID card immediately. Few responsible Citizens would have any problem accepting the need for this and it could be implimented quickly whilst waiting for the long-term planned ID cards to evolve.
Jacqui replies: We are already much better at checking the identity of those coming into the country. By next spring, everyone who applies for a visa to come into the UK will have to provide fingerprints which can then be checked and used to ensure that they are who they say they are. By the end of 2008, we will also be introducing id cards for foreign nationals who are here for more than six months and expect to be issuing the first national ID cards in 2009. However, it’s a very big job to get the identity register and the cards that will depend on it right and that’s why we’re working through the plans carefully.
Richard Taylor: Traffic CCTV cameras in conjunction with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) are increasingly being used by the state to track where people’s vehicles are on Britain’s roads. What safeguards are there to ensure that the highly personal and intrusive data on people’s movements collected by the system are used proportionally and not misused? How long will the Government be keeping details of all my movements by car for?
Jacqui replies: CCTV systems including automatic number plate recognition can play a really important role in tackling and investigating crime and terrorism. The police have their own camera network on some roads for tracking suspicious vehicles and identifying suspects. But no decision has been made about whether other ANPR data, for example, from congestion charging cameras should be made available to the police for fighting crime generally. Such a decision would only be taken with wide consultation and robust safeguards on the use of the information.
Ben Dunn: It has been said that cannabis is a cause of crime, but from my experience its more a source of crime purely because it is illegal which makes it far too easy to profit from.
Do you not beleive that if people could obtain their controlled cannabis from a licenced outlet, instead of the potentially dangerous street dealers, it would reduce the amount of (particularly young) people falling into circles of criminal activity?
Also, surely taking the control and money away from dangerous criminals and back into the hands of the government would benefit the country enormously. Criminal and potentially harmful activity is easily funded purely by the illegal distribution of cannabis, without this source of income the criminals would be financially crippled. Has this not been taken into account?
Jacqui replies: I don’t agree that the only harm that cannabis causes is the link to crime. We have a growing weight of evidence about its link to mental health problems and also evidence that the cannabis available on our streets is getting stronger. This is why I oppose legalisation and have asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to consider whether cannabis should be reclassified.
Sgt David Brew: Murders and serious assaults by offenders with knives is a daily occurence in the UK. There have been numerous high profile crimes for example the murders of a school headmaster, and also young school children. A murder on a local housing estate gets little mention,news wise these days.Are the penalties for carrying knives too low? and what is the Government to do about this persistent. problem?
Jacqui replies: Thanks for this question - I certainly take knife crime very seriously. From this year, we have increased the maximum sentence for possessing a knife from two to four years and we’ve given school staff a new power to search all pupils for weapons. This Autumn, we will increase the age at which someone can legally be sold a knife from 16 to 18.
But we also need to prevent people getting involved with knives in the first place. That’s why we’re supporting initiatives like the Damilola Taylor Trust ‘Respect Your Life, Not a Knife’ campaign which is asking young people to sign a pledge not to carry a knife. It would be good if everyone reading this could get behind the campaign.
michael: Mike White
What is your daily schedule like Home Secretary? How do you manage to relax in a job that I would imagine is full of stress?
Best Wishes mike
Jacqui replies: It’s certainly a busy job, but it’s also a real honour to be given the responsibility of protecting the public - our borders, families and communities. There’s no such thing as an average day, but amongst the many meetings, I really enjoy being able to get out and about. In the last month, I’ve been able to see a Neighbourhood Policing team in London, the work of our Border officers at Heathrow, a drug scheme in Sunderland and a great partnership tackling crime and anti-social behaviour in Newcastle.
This webchat has also been really interesting - although I’m not sure it counts as relaxation! Whilst I have to finish now, I hope we’ll be able to organise another one soon.
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