The Home Office has, this week, published plans to reform policing throughout England and Wales
Police reforms will not see Cardiff Bay get new powers over Welsh policing, a Home Office minister has indicated. Lord Hanson of Flint told peers “devolution is not on the agenda” as part of his department’s plans for a “new model for policing”. Policing is devolved in Northern Ireland and Scotland but not in Wales, where the policy area is reserved to Westminster.
The Commission on Devolution in Wales, chaired by Sir Paul Silk, recommended more than a decade ago that policing and crime prevention “should be devolved”. It also recommended, in its 2014 report, that police pay should be devolved, but not pensions or the National Crime Agency. For the biggest stories in Wales first sign up to our daily newsletter here
Plaid Cymru’s former leader, Lord Wigley, said: “The minister, as a former Welsh MP, will recall the Silk Commission recommending devolution of aspects of police and crime to Wales, something that was supported by the Carwyn Jones government and is now supported by the First Minister of Wales.
“Why is the government not giving more credence to their friends in Wales than they are to the civil servants of the Home Office?”
Lord Hanson, who was previously the Labour MP for Delyn, replied: “As a resident of Wales, as an MP in Wales for 28 years, as a person who still has, you know, lots of friends in the police force in Wales, I say to him that devolution is not on the agenda as part of this reorganisation.
“This is about efficiency, local management. And we will discuss with the Welsh Government now – and whoever forms the Welsh Government after the Senedd elections in May – as to how that reorganisation takes place in Wales. And I look forward to working with the First Minister Eluned Morgan post-May to do that.”
The Home Office has, this week, published plans to reform policing throughout England and Wales. As part of the proposals, a new National Police Service would be introduced to set national standards in areas such as technology and training, and, eventually, look after themes such as counter-terrorism and “county lines”, cross-country, drug dealing.
The number of police forces in England and Wales will also be “significantly reduced” from 43 by the end of the next parliament, with these new larger forces divided into local policing areas to manage emergency responses and neighbourhood-level concerns.
Baroness Morgan of Ely, the First Minister, earlier this month, called for the Senedd and Welsh Government to have wider powers – over policing, rail, youth justice and probation.
Speaking at an Institute for Government event, she said: “I want to see devolution of policing and, yes, of rail. I want to see proper structures for inter-governmental agreements and parity of esteem between the nations.”
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