Policing and Crime Bill — Ability to Give Police Staff and Volunteers All But Core Powers of a Constable — Conditional on No Cut in Police Funding Until 2020 — 26 Apr 2016 at 19:00

The majority of MPs voted not to make the introduction of a new law enabling police staff and volunteers to be given all but specific core powers of a constable conditional on no real terms reduction in police funding until 2020.

MPs were considering the Policing and Crime Bill^[1].

The amendment rejected in this vote was:

• Amendment 10, page 59, line 31, at end insert—
• “(12) This section cannot come into force until the House of Commons approves a report under subsection 46(6) of the Police Act 1996 which guarantees no annual reduction in funding in real terms to local policing bodies in each financial year until 2020.”.

The rejected amendment was accompanied by an explanatory statement saying:

• This amendment would guarantee that police funding would be protected in a police grant settlement approved by Parliament before proposals to grant additional police powers to volunteers can be brought forward.

The rejected amendment would have resulted in the proposed new subclause (12) being added to Clause 35^[2] of the Bill. The report in question is the report which sets out the amount of the grants to each police force from central Government. Clause 35 provides for any power or duty of a constable, other than a ‘core’ power or duty, to be given to a designated staff member or volunteer.

• [1] Parliament's webpage on the Policing and Crime Bill
• [2] Clause 35 of the Bill as at the time of the vote

Debate in Parliament |