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Below is the text of the speech made by the Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice, Damian Green, on the 14th August 2013.

I’m very pleased to be here at the first of a series of events with magistrates across the country. When we began to think about the role of magistrates, as part of our wider reforms of the criminal justice system, I was adamant that we should involve magistrates themselves as early as possible in shaping our reforms. I want their thoughts and ideas to be at the heart of our policy.

I think that the speed with which the places on these events were booked up is testament to the appetite to engage with the change going on in the Criminal Justice System, and to inform how we go about it.

This government has already made big changes to Criminal Justice:

– we have brought in Police and Crime Commissioners

– we are transforming the way we rehabilitate offenders;

– we’re reforming legal aid;

– and we’ve made important improvements to support for victims.

However we still have much more to do to make sure the system continues to serve the public as well as it should. And the Strategy and Action Plan, which we launched in June, announces wide ranging changes to streamline and digitise the way we work, as well as to make the system more accountable, and more transparent, to victims and to the public.

At this time of significant change in the CJS, this is the right time for everyone to contribute to a debate on how to ensure magistrates remain central to our criminal justice system. We have an opportunity here to both strengthen and widen the role of the magistracy as part of our reforms, and also to use the expertise and unique position of magistrates to help us make the criminal justice system better.

Magistrates in England and Wales play a vital role in our judiciary. In 2011, magistrates’ courts dealt with around 19 out of every 20 defendants in criminal cases. Only 6% of defendants had a trial in the crown court.

In addition, magistrates use civil jurisdiction to help the police and local authorities combat anti-social behaviour and gang-violence; and to protect thousands of children from abuse each year.

Magistrates with their legal advisers and district judges share a breadth and volume of work which is not matched by any other judicial office-holder in England and Wales. They are volunteers, are truly the cornerstone of our justice system. Not only that, they are a model of what a good citizen should be. The 23,500 magistrates are the best of our country. They want to give their skills, expertise and time for the good of others, for nothing. We are lucky to have them, and we should be proud of them.

Our summary justice system was founded with the magistracy at the centre. Magistrates have dispensed justice in their local communities for more than 650 years, since Justices of the Peace Act introduced the novel proposition that decent members of the community, not themselves lawyers, should be vested with the power to administer justice.

That’s not to say that the magistracy hasn’t changed since then. Thankfully, it has. They are a vibrant and diverse group, which much more closely represents the communities they serve. I am particularly impressed by the improvements which have made terms of gender and ethnicity. There is still though more to do to ensure that the magistracy is truly representative of the country.

The role has also changed over time, and will continue to do so, as communities change. But the qualities of today’s magistracy – fairness, good character, understanding of people and the application of sound judgement – have been constant for decades.

Magistrates are impressive people. They perform a vital role, bringing the valuable experience and common sense of ordinary people to the justice system, and devoting large amounts of your valuable time to serving your communities. Volunteering to be a magistrate is a prime example of the kind of commitment from people to improve their own communities that this Government has sought to promote.

But we could be doing much more to make better use of this knowledge and expertise. That is why I want to ensure that we equip the magistracy with what they need to enable them to continue to make a real difference in an ever changing landscape, and ensure that they are used where they can provide maximum benefit.

In my relatively short time as Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice I have seen the considerable problems in the criminal justice system – too many delays, and too much waste. And I am sure that all magistrates must have witnessed this time and time again as they have sat in court over the years.

There would be outrage if fewer than half of hospital operations went ahead on time, or if children turning up at school found that their lessons only went ahead less than half of the time. I can only imagine how frustrated magistrates’ must feel when after volunteering their valuable time, they find that only 44% of trials proceed as planned – not even half of them.

The reforms that we’re making in the Strategy and Action Plan aim to cut out much of the waste, and reduce the delays. I hope that this will mean a more fulfilling experience for magistrates on the Bench, and this also provides an opportunity to make better use of their skills and expertise.

That is why today I am launching a piece of work that will involve them directly in developing a new statement of the role of the magistrate.

Of course a magistrates core role is, and will remain as judicial office-holders, dispensing justice for the benefit of the communities they serve. That won’t change. However, I am keen that we should maximise the value which they bring to those communities, and to emphasise the value that the Government places on their services and skills.

In order to make sure that we maximise the value of magistrates and get their role in a twenty-first century justice system right, I want to ask them three questions:

How do we ensure that Magistrates are dealing with the right cases in court?

The time magistrates spend in court should be focussed on those cases where they make a real difference to their communities. Their core skills of deciding on bail, fact-finding and sentencing should be put to best effect.

For example, three magistrates needn’t spend time rubber-stamping foregone conclusions in simple road traffic cases where the defendant doesn’t contest the matter, and doesn’t even turn up. One magistrate could deal with this much more efficiently in an office.

That’s why we announced that we will be legislating to remove those cases from traditional courtrooms, so that magistrates can focus their time in court on the more serious and contested cases which best use their skills.

For some the obvious way to keep more cases in magistrates’ courts will be to increase their custodial sentencing powers, and there is an attractive logic to this. However, there is also a risk that this could cause additional pressure on the prison population, because sentencing practices could change.

We have done some work analysing the potential impact of increased powers – as have the Magistrates Association – and we agree on the numbers involved. We perhaps disagree on how easy it could be to realise any savings and on the costs of additional prison places. So we will keep the case for increasing magistrates’ custodial sentencing powers under review and in the meantime we will retain on the statute book the provisions that enable the increased powers.

Our priority at the moment though is to tackle the unacceptably high reoffending rates – especially reoffending by those serving custodial sentences of less than 12 months. We have already announced our intention, in the Offender Rehabilitation Bill, which is currently before Parliament, to ensure all adult offenders are supervised for at least 12 months on release from prison. This means introducing new licence and supervision measures for offenders serving short custodial sentences.

These proposals also include a new role and powers for magistrates to deal with offenders who breach the conditions of their supervision. That means courts will have powers to deal with those who fail to comply with their supervision conditions, including being able to commit an offender to custody for up to 14 days.

We want to work with magistrates to deliver these new provisions, to get right the training and support they need to deal with these offenders and to involve them in how we rehabilitate offenders.

Around 40% of defendants that are convicted in magistrates’ courts and then committed to the crown court for custodial sentences receive no more than six months imprisonment. These are cases which magistrates could have sentenced; no, these are cases which magistrates should have sentenced; they already have the skills, capability and powers to do so. This is why I want to work with magistrates to find out why these cases are being escalated, and address that. This is particularly important for young people, where the Youth Court is set up specifically to deal with children involved in criminal proceedings, whether as witnesses, defendants or both.

We also need to get the balance right at the lower end of the spectrum as well. There is definitely a place for out-of-court disposals in ensuring justice is brought in cases which may otherwise not have come to court and as a proportionate response to some low-level offending. But we need to make sure that it is only these cases which are getting out-of-court disposals, and that all cases which should properly be brought before a court are brought to court.

There is a role for magistrates in scrutinising the police’s use of out-of-court disposals, and I am pleased that the Senior Presiding Judge supports this, and has recently issued guidance, encouraging magistrates to get involved.

These are some examples of where we can bring more of the right cases in front of magistrates, but there is more that we could do and I want to hear Magistrates suggestions and views.

This brings me onto my next question, which is:

What other ways are there for Magistrates skills and experience to be used for the benefit of their communities?

In the Offender Rehabilitation Bill we are giving magistrates more powers to help reduce reoffending. I am also very pleased to hear Magistrates are getting involved in their communities’ Neighbourhood Justice Panels, and in scrutinising out-of-court disposals; taking their valuable experience from courtrooms and using them in new and different settings.

I want to explore whether there are other appropriate roles, compatible with Magistrates core role as judicial office-holders, which would benefit from their knowledge and experience, and help to reduce crime and reoffending, and make communities safer.

Another area where Magistrates have become much more involved in recent years is in community engagement. Activities like the Magistrates in the Community initiative, the Local Crime: Community Sentence project, and the National Mock Trial Competition which John Fassenfelt of the Magistrates’ Association recently informed me about, help to strengthen the links between courts, communities and the wider justice system. They build public confidence in sentencing, and teach young people about the law and the way that the justice system in England and Wales operates.

These are great examples of the sort of local justice that we need to move towards – visible and continuous engagement with communities, working with local criminal justice agencies to understand the issues that affect those communities, and what can be done to resolve them. I want to make sure that we are doing everything we can in this area, and that we are taking every opportunity we have to raise public understanding of summary justice. I’d like to hear Magistrates views on what more we could be doing help the magistracy forge closer links with their communities.

And my last question is:

How can we ensure that Magistrates are in the driving seat of improving performance of the justice system in their communities?

I’d like to hear views on how we could harness Magistrates experience to help us improve the performance of the CJS.

The CJS needs to work in partnership to improve performance and provide a better service for victims. Not through top-down targets and measures but through a common understanding that a well performing criminal justice system is good for victims, is good for communities, and is good for the rehabilitation of offenders.

Back in February, I launched a set of seven shared outcomes for the CJS. We developed them with practitioners across the system and this has enabled us, for the first time, to state clearly a common view of what we are all working towards:

– to reduce crime;

– to reduce re-offending;

– to punish offenders;

– to protect the public;

– to provide victims with reparation;

– to increase public confidence, including among victims and witnesses; and

– to be fair and just.

I would like to have a discussion about what magistrates role is locally in making these outcomes happen, for the benefit of the system, and for the benefit of their communities.

There has been some great work so far; stop delaying justice is a sentiment we can all support. Delay is bad for the victim, bad for the accused and bad for justice itself. Magistrates are central to the success of our justice system and initiatives designed to improve the way cases are managed should have the training and support of JPs at the heart of them. This I believe is true of the Stop Delaying Justice programme which began last year and enters its second phase this summer, and is why I am really impressed with the way in which the magistracy and wider judiciary have taken the initiative with this work.

I know that the magistracy is already working locally to change listing patterns to enable the police to present a greater range of cases in court, releasing the CPS to concentrate on the more serious and complex cases. This is another great example of where I can see Magistrates working effectively with the wider CJS to improve the way that the justice system works in all our areas.

Those are the three questions that I would like to put to magistrates today.

This work is the start of a new way of working with the magistracy in matters which affect summary justice. That is why we are holding these events now, at the beginning of the policy process, to ensure that it is their thoughts and ideas which form the heart of our policy building a world-class justice system.

Today we are also launching – for the first time – an online tool that will allow magistrates to put forward ideas on how they can become more involved in their communities to make them safer. Crucially the tool will allow magistrates to collaborate and develop these ideas so we can come up with a shared solution.

This is an exciting time of change for criminal justice. And I want to involve as many magistrates as I can in helping us to shape their role in the 21st Century. I know that in 650 years the role of the magistracy in England and Wales has changed as much as society has, but magistrates are still as important and highly valued as ever. Magistrates have been an essential part of the backbone of a successful society for centuries, and the changes I want to bring about will strengthen that vital role.

Below is the text of a speech made by Damian Green at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners event on 23rd January 2013.

Introduction

I would like to thank the APCC for inviting me to speak to you today.

I’d like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to Paul McKeever, the chair of the Police Federation who sadly died last week. Some of you may have known Paul – I  did for a short time – he was a dedicated police officer and chair of the federation and my condolences and thoughts are with his family, friends and colleagues at the federation.  The federation has its differences with the government, but Paul was always willing to listen to our views as we were his.

We are in the midst of the most significant and wide ranging programme of reform to policing. And you – the first Police and Crime Commissioners – are at the heart of this change.

Benefits of having a single association

I know that the APCC have been seeking your views on how best they can assist you to play a full part in shaping and leading this wide ranging programme of reform at the national level. When I spoke to you a few months ago I talked about the clear benefit of having a single representative body that acts on your behalf and in your interests at the national level.

Clearly how that body is formed and what it does, is for you to determine. But, as one of the individuals likely to be most affected by such a body – and you may not catch me saying this once I feel the impact of such a body-  I see no better way of ensuring, during this period of significant change, that your collective voice can be heard and acted upon at all levels. Particularly obviously inside central government.

I am of course realistic, you won’t always be able to speak with one voice, but as many of you will know  MPs from all parties manage to come together on issues that require collective change and so do local councillors. So there are times when I expect you will see the value over coming together irrespective of your political backgrounds or particular views.

The local government association obviously represents councils of every colour so it is an example of how a desire to improve services for the public and influence national policy has gone beyond political divisions.

You have a powerful mandate. You are the voice of the public on policing and crime in your force areas and through a single body you will be able to amplify that voice at a national level.

Already, we have been consulting on a new pay review body and many of you as individuals have contributed to this important process. But on top of the value of these individual responses, that he will rightly take full account of, I was very grateful to receive the formal response from the APCC which demonstrated to me that there was indeed a consistency in your individual responses, and most importantly that when presented as a collective, they really do make a very direct impact.

So, there will be clearly times when it is in your interest to talk with a shared voice and these will increase over time.

New initiatives

Before the elections last November some people questioned what impact PCCs would make. I am glad to stand here today and say that already due to some of the decisions you have taken, and your dedication and drive, those voices have started to fall silent.

The public can already see evidence of innovative, and in some cases, radical ideas and initiatives , from you and your offices to tackle crime, the causes of crime, and to promote the police service in your communities.

It is simple: these positive developments, developments that will make a real difference to people’s lives in the communities you serve, would not be happening without you.

Some of the most recent ones that have struck a chord with me are:

The impressive amount of engagement that is happening with the public in setting plans and priorities;

Plans, for example in Dorset, to set up community and victims forums for the public to raise issues about policing;

The setting up of a youth commissioner in Kent;

Plans in Staffordshire to explore recruitment of 200 new special constables and unlocking millions of pounds tied up by the force’s failure to sell its former HQ.

Each of you will have other examples of how you are making a difference that I would like to hear about.

Of course there was great work going on before the elections and many of you will already be drawing on what works for your area.

Effective practice esp. IOM

It is also impossible not to mention the huge amount of engagement that you are doing with partners across the criminal justice system and beyond.

I know that many of you are ahead of the game and in the acronym you are using, PCC, the ‘C’ is important as well – you’re not just police commissioners you are crime commissioners as well.

In many areas the police, working closely with probation, prisons and other partners, have put in place local arrangements to tackle offending under the banner of Integrated Offender Management.

These arrangements bring a joint focus on the offenders who commit the most crime locally, or whose offending causes the most damage to the local community. Through effective joint working in this way, many areas have been able to turn around the lives of some of the most difficult and chaotic prolific offenders, whose offending obviously had such a negative impact on local communities.

If there aren’t such arrangements in place in your area, you may have already be asking: ‘why not?’.  And the opportunity to share best practice is another benefit of coming together in forums like this.

When we all work together, which is at the heart of the IOM approach, we can all make the best changes for the greater public good.

For our part, the government has set out its commitment to supporting these approaches as part of the reform proposals set out in the consultation paper ‘Transforming Rehabilitation: a revolution in the way we manage offenders’.

And I know that you will be a powerful and new voice in the dialogue which will form the process of consultation.

Looking ahead, I hope there are plenty more opportunities for innovation. One example is the work being done to create the new Police IT company.

Police IT Company

Whenever I meet police officers, one of the first things they complain about is the poor IT in many forces.  I am sure that in your conversations with officers they will have made the same point to you.

We all know that technology and communications is a vital part of front line policing and in implementing change.

With significant cost pressures, many forces are now increasingly using digital and mobile technology to improve operational performance and as a lever for wider business change.

With police forces spending over £1bn per annum and employing over 4,000 ICT staff.  I believe that the Police ICT Company gives you the opportunity to secure critical services for your force, to accelerate innovation and to help to make savings.

This is your Company, set up to deliver what you want for your force. But to get this company to work in the way you want, you need to take control. The choice is yours but this is an opportunity for you to take ownership.

I hope you see this as a real opportunity to achieve tangible results by working together. I urge you to take up the offer of the Company and use ICT as an enabler to keep officers on the front line.

College of Policing

There are obviously a number of challenges facing the new College of Policing and one is helping the police become more like the totality of Great Britain.

The recently released Census figures for 2011 show how our society is changing faster than ever before.  The police must be able to respond to the needs and aspirations of this more diverse society.

I am struck by how far we still need to improve representation of women, black minority ethnic populations and other protected groups in the police, especially at senior levels.

And I also want to see the wider culture of the police strengthened so that it becomes more open, more inclusive and welcoming to people from all backgrounds.

Police forces must also be better able to relate to the communities they serve. This is a key area of building trust and confidence in local communities.

My firm belief is that the police must take ownership for these issues. I am therefore pleased that the newly formed College of Policing, which will have responsibility for standards in the police, will be a key driver for this work.

In the spring they will release a new equality strategy for the police.  I hope that many of you can engage with the development of this strategy.

I know that there is a huge interest from you collectively in the College and I welcome this.   It will have an essential role in professionalising policing. There are a limited number of places for formal involvement on the board, but I will be encouraging the College to look at what else you can do to get involved.

Funding

Moving onto the key subject of money, you will all now be aware of the provisional police funding allocations that were laid in Parliament on 19 December.

First we decided to protect the police from further reductions to Departmental budgets for 2013/14 that were announced in the Autumn Statement.

Secondly we will protect the police from reductions announced by the Chancellor in November 2011 relating to public sector pay restraint. Without this protection on pay restraint, central government funding for the police would have been reduced by £66m in 2013/14.

These two decisions mean the police will receive the same amount of total government funding in 2013/14 that was agreed at the 2010 Spending Review, giving you confidence as you make your plans.

I hope you welcome that and some of you already have but I understand you will have concerns about funding allocations in 2014/15. You will be aware that the Chancellor announced a further 2% cut to Departmental budgets. As mentioned in my Written Ministerial Statement, we have decided to defer publication of police funding allocations for 2014/15 in order to fully scrutinise all Home Office budgets and see what can best be done.

The other key funding decision that was announced was on damping. As you know the government held an informal consultation on this. In deciding how to apply damping over the next two years we took account of the concerns expressed by respondents who called for a full review of the Police Allocation Formula before changing damping policy, given that the two are inextricably linked. This is why the Home Secretary will be commissioning a fundamental review of the Formula.

I know you have strong views on this, and some of you have already raised them with me, so we are obviously keen to hear your ideas on this and we will engage with you as part of this review.

I recognise that the funding settlement remains challenging. But as HMIC have made clear, police forces have risen to the existing financial challenge, cutting spending while largely maintaining the service they provide. The proportion of officers on the frontline is increasing, crime continues to fall – a point often lost in the wider policing debate, victim satisfaction is up and the response to emergency calls is being maintained. I am confident that you can build on this and continue to push your forces to drive out waste while maintaining and improving the level of service that the public receive.

Despite inheriting the largest peacetime deficit, our decisions regarding funding for 2013/14 demonstrate that we are committed to ensuring that the police continue to have the resources they need to carry out their important work.

Looking now at pay and conditions, you will have seen last week our decision to accept the recommendation of the Police Arbitration Tribunal (PAT).

This includes proposals around pay scales and allowances.

This represents another more step forward in what amounts to the most radical overhaul to policing pay and conditions for 30 years.

But these reforms are not yet complete.

We remain committed to the principles and objectives set out in the Winsor Review, in particular to the modernising of management practices and to developing the vital link between pay and professional skills.

This is something that the College of Policing will take forward in line with the timescales recommended in the Winsor review.

We want to ensure that the police are able to draw on the best pool of talent available to strengthen the workforce. And I am also determined to ensure that police forces are able to attract the brightest and the best, at all levels, including senior levels.

We are convinced of the merits of enabling the most able people to join at senior ranks to open up the culture of the police to outside experiences and perspectives and will be consulting shortly on the development of effective direct entry and fast track schemes for talented individuals.

This is about opening up the police to promote a diversity of experience and professional skills at all levels.

And I am also committed, as I know you will be, to ensuring that the police set the best example of integrity.

Police integrity

With the publication of Giving Victims a Voice, the report on the Jimmy Saville case, the issue of police professional standards and integrity has once again come to the fore.

We touched on this issue briefly at the PCC briefing event, back in December. I’d like to return to it today while we are considering how to address police integrity at the national level.

This also seems an especially appropriate moment, given that so many of you are engaged in recruiting new chief constables.

You will have received the guidance on recruiting chief constables from the College of Policing that was sent out in November, together with the note on vetting requirements. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that you have a responsibility to assure yourselves of the integrity of anyone you are considering appointing as a chief constable.

But I should however remind you of the need to establish their formal vetting status – the note sent to the APCC, as well as Chief Executives and communicators, gives contact details should anyone like further advice on this matter.

The integrity and professional behaviour of chief constables and their senior teams are the foundation of public confidence in policing.

This is an area where you can make an impact locally, providing clarity to your communities about what they have a right to expect – that they will be treated fairly, honestly and with respect.

Both the public and officers need to see the senior team leading by example. Underpinning this, there also needs to be comprehensive and rigorous governance – of integrity as well as finance and other issues – to provide the mechanisms by which professional standards can be monitored and enforced.

Recent reports from HMIC, the IPCC and Transparency International have all highlighted a lack of consistency between forces in, for example, applying guidelines on hospitality.

Integrity is one aspect of policing in which there should be no room for local variation.  It is so important that clearly every force, every officer needs to maintain the highest standards.

Working with you

I am in no doubt that the British police force is committed, dedicated and well respected. I know we all want to ensure that we keep it like that.

And as I look forward to how we are going to make this happen, I know that working with you and the APCC will be key to our success.

But what is also important is how we will do this. And I think this means speaking with you regularly without dragging you to London, eating into your valuable time and the public purse.

I have asked officials to work with your offices and the APCC to come up with ways we can do this making the most of technology such as video conferences to maximise our time and minimise the effort we spend in making these meetings regular and as convenient as possible for all of us.

You are only a couple of months into your new roles, but I have no doubt that by this November both you and I will be reflecting on where we have succeeded and identified areas where we must continue to work together, in order to realise a modern, trusted professional police service that not only ranks as the best in the world, but is indeed the leading standard for policing.

It is a great and important goal and I very much hope that together we can achieve it.

Below is the text of a speech given by the Minister of State for Policing and Criminal Justice, Damian Green, to the Police Superintendents’ Association conference on 12 September 2012.

Thank you very much for inviting me to speak to you today.  It’s always daunting as a ,inister to come to speak to an audience containing so much experience and expertise, and that is particularly the case after only a week in the job.

Like many other people I have had many experiences of police activity, when I have been a victim of crime, or when I have seen police in action in maintaining public order.  I also, famously, have some experience of police action which is perhaps unique for a Police Minister – I have been arrested, and this guarantees that I am not disposed to uncritical admiration of everything done by all police officers at all times.

What I can guarantee is that during my time in this job I will be a candid friend of the police.  I want you to succeed in your job, because it is vital to a healthy society, and the best way I can help is to listen, learn, and express my own views clearly.  We may not always agree, but I will always be willing to engage and discuss.

I am sorry that I wasn’t able to join you for the sessions and discussions that you have had this morning.  I have been in Coventry meeting with Chris Sims and West Midlands Police. I can confirm that as of 11am this morning the streets of Coventry were entirely peaceful and orderly. I was interested to see what they are doing with technology to make themselves better at their job by much better use of technology and various initiatives.

Heart of our police force

I am particularly pleased that my first major event and speech as Police Minster is to one of the police staff associations.  You, as key leaders of policing and as police officers, are the heart of our police force.  Yesterday I know the Home Secretary praised your professionalism and dedication, and I straightforwardly want to echo those sentiments.  This professionalism and dedication is particularly valued as you drive change within your forces.  And there is a lot of change taking place.

I accept that this is a challenging period for officers and the force as a whole, and I understand that there is some suspicion about the changes we have made and are continuing to make.  I am not here to tell you that I will be slowing the pace of change or reversing decisions that have been made – the reform of policing is too important for that – but I hope that we can all follow Derek’s call to ‘move on’ from these changes and the debates and arguments of the past and work together to build a strong police force in the public interest.

To that end I want to put on record our thanks for all the work that you and your colleagues have done to address the challenges so far.  Despite necessary reductions in budgets, crime is down and, as Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary has said, the service to the public is largely being maintained, response times have held up and victim satisfaction is improving.  This is down to the dedication and professionalism that officers and leaders like all of you show every day.

I know that inevitably, everything that has happened, all those changes, have dominated the conference over the last couple of days.

Today I want to talk to you briefly about some of the themes of professionalism and public confidence underpinning the reforms that have been made, and what I think the benefits will be.  But before moving on I want to be clear that even after  reform of structures and pay and conditions police officers will continue to be among the best paid of the public services, retiring earlier than most and with pensions that are among the most generous. But is equally worth saying that this is right, to reward the exceptional job that you do.

Reducing bureaucracy

The Home Secretary has been determined to restore discretion to the police and to enhance professionalism, and I am equally committed to this agenda. The proper use of discretion is important for all ranks of the police, but it is essential to you as superintendents.  It is a prerequisite to reducing bureaucracy and to end the culture of the Home Office – the Police Minister, Home Secretary, officials – looking over your shoulders as you make decisions.  I want you to be able to get on with the job they joined the force for: fighting crime, and you can’t do that if you’re tied up in red tape and bogged down by form-filling.

I am please that great strides have already been made in this area which could see up to 4.5 million hours of police time saved across all forces every year, but I want to see more done to build on this. That is one of the things I am keen to drive through as police minister. This morning I spoke to Chris Sims, the ACPO lead on reducing bureaucracy, about what more we can do.  We’ve changed a lot from the centre, but we have to work with forces, and with you, to identify where further improvements can be made.

This agenda to restore discretion goes hand in hand with that to improve professionalism.  At the outset, it’s important to say what the professionalism agenda is not about.

It’s not about criticising you or saying that the way you have been doing your jobs up to now has been fundamentally flawed.

And it’s not about making policing a graduate profession.

But it is about accepting that the threats we face have changed and that to support the new landscape, and particularly the increase in your discretion, we need to continue to develop skills and ensure that they are properly recognised and rewarded.

College of Policing

Key to this work will be the creation of the new policing professional body – the College of Policing.  The College will be established by the end of the year, taking on functions from the NPIA and ACPO business areas, with a powerful mandate to enable the service to implement the required standards for training, development, skills and qualifications.

And, crucially, it will be independent of government, with a board made up of representatives from across the ranks, with PCCs and independent members helping to give advice and improve accountability.  And, as the Home Secretary said yesterday, the Chief Executive will be a senior officer.  I was pleased to learn on taking over the post of Police Minister that work on the College has been progressing well over the summer, and I’m grateful for the engagement of the Superintendents’ Association during this.

The other key part of the drive to develop professionalism and restore discretion is considering and taking forward the recommendations of the Winsor review.  I know, even in my very short time in this role, that you have concerns about some of these proposals.  But the principles supporting these changes are important.  If we are to properly support professionalism we have to value the skills that officers, using their warranted powers, gain to carry out their roles.  A pay system that rewards time served, rather than skills and professional development cannot do this.

Yesterday the Home Secretary spoke about the benefits of these proposals to you as operational leaders: the signals you can send to your officers and staff and the flexibility that you will be given.  And these benefits will flow to all officers and to the public, because it will support the central aim of policing: to cut crime.

And that relationship between the public and police is where I’d like to end my comments today.  You all know that it is a relationship that needs to be won every day, by every action and decision an officer takes.  Contrary to what some people think, confidence in the police has been steadily improving, but too many people still feel disconnected from their local force, thinking that policing is something that happens to them, rather than something they need to engage with.

That is why I am excited about the elections for Police and Crime Commissioners taking place on 15 November.  Public awareness of the elections is increasing and people are now starting to talk about policing priorities in their areas, often in a way they haven’t before.  You will always be the ones taking the operational decisions, but with a directly elected figure, accountable to the community they represent, the link with the public will be renewed.

We all know a healthy society requires the police and public to be at ease with each other, and the triumph of the policing operation at the Olympic and Paralympic games is testament to this. I visited the Olympic Park several times but it was not just there, it was everyone involved in the torch relay, the spectators and they were only able to throw themselves into the spirit of the games because of the work that dedicated officers were doing quietly behind the scenes.  The fact that no one mentioned public order during the Olympic period is a huge testament to the success of the operation that police all over the country were involved with. You were essential to helping deliver a safe, secure and enjoyable Games that did prove to be one of the best things to happen to this country for many decades. This easier relationship between the police and the public needs to be one of the legacies of the Games.

But it is not just for you as leaders or individual officers or forces to work to win this confidence, as elected representatives politicians have a duty to help build this too. So I look forward to working with you, and getting to know you, and my door will always be open to representatives of policing.  I also want to get out to meet with you and hear your concerns by visiting forces around England and Wales.  I visited Coventry with West Midlands Police this morning, so I only have another 42 forces to go.

I want to thank Derek for his contribution as president.  I know that he has been a source of good counsel for Ministers, and I look forward to working with Irene and continuing what has been a very important relationship that the Home Office has with the Superintendents’ Association.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to congratulate Steve Williams on becoming chair-elect of the Police Federation.  In my briefing I note that he is a trained hostage negotiator; I was pondering that and I’m sure he will find it a useful skill.

I know many people have said that this is an opportunity for a new start and personal relationships will be very important and I am more than happy to do what I need to do to ensure we have a creative, constructive, evidence based dialogue. That is the way to make progress. Of course we will not always agree, reform and change is always a painful period for all involved but we need to have those discussions on a regular basis.

It is true that we have a dedicated and professional police service, and I am excited about the future of policing in this country.  At a time of great change the central mission for policing remains the same: to cut crime.  And as Police Minister I will always support you to do this, in the interest of the people of this country.

Thank you.