Roads Policing
Response:
The government have received a draft report of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) on roads policing. The date for publication will be decided by HMICFRS.
The HMICFRS consultation on its proposals for a new framework for future PEEL inspections is currently suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. We will respond to these proposals as and when the consultation process is resumed.
Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) are responsible for the totality of policing within their force area. This includes ensuring the Chief Constable delivers an effective and efficient police service to meet the priorities of the local community. PCCs are required to set out their strategic objectives in a Police and Crime Plan following consultation with the public and local partners.
The Home Office has confirmed the allocations for every force in England and Wales in the first year of the uplift. 6,000 additional officers have been allocated to forces across England and Wales by the end of March 2021 and over 3,000 have already been recruited.
We are working closely with policing leaders to ensure the additional resource will have the right impact. Chief Constables remain operationally independent, and the deployment of officers is an operational matter for local Chief Constables.
HL9714
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many responses there were to the roads policing review: call for evidence which closed on 5 October; and when they expect to publish their response to any such evidence received.
Response:
There have been 149 responses to the Roads Policing Review call for Evidence. We are planning to publish our response in Spring 2021.
Data Protection legislation already allows for proportionate sharing of personal data for law enforcement purposes. The legislation also provides mechanisms to do this.In the Refreshed Road Safety Statement in July 2019 we announced the most comprehensive review of roads policing and this reflects our commitment to continuing to reduce the numbers of people killed and seriously injured on our roads. The exchange of data pertinent to road safety between agencies and organisations is being explored as part of the review.We will also shortly be launching a Call for Evidence to help us further investigate the link between enforcement, collisions, congestion and crime. Respondents will have the opportunity to outline their views on what could be done to better enable and equip those charged with enforcing traffic laws.
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report by the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety entitled Roads policing and its contribution to road safety, published on 4 June 2020, if she will make roads policing a strategic policing requirement.
HM Government has been clear that we will not lower British standards as a part of future free trade agreements.
Good progress is being made on the review on roads policing, including on the inspection of roads policing and a Call for Evidence to run alongside that inspection.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) have completed their thematic review of roads policing in seven police forces and will be issuing a publicly available report in due course.
The Department will be publishing the Call for Evidence shortly.
Consideration will then be given to the responses and we would expect to produce the final report on roads policing once all the evidence has been considered.
E-scooters
Asked by Lillian Greenwood MP
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress he has made on establishing the evaluation arrangements for e-scooter rental trials. (91018)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department will use to determine whether e-scooter rental trials are successful. (91019)
The evaluation will assess some key issues: the safety risks presented by e-scooters; the mode shift to e-scooters from other forms of transport; public perceptions around their use; and other identified impacts from their use. These will inform a decision on whether e-scooters should be legalised and what a suitable form of regulation for e-scooters would be.”
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to enable members of the public to report incidents involving e-scooters to researchers conducting e-scooter trials. (106975)
“Incidents in e-scooter trials can be reported to the e-scooter operator, the local authority hosting the trial or, if necessary, to the police. All e-scooters have a unique identifier and in some areas have small plates – similar to registration plates – to help identify the e-scooters involved in any incidents. The Department is regularly gathering evidence from local authorities and operators about incidents and how these are being addressed.
“In addition to reported incidents, the Department is letting a contract for central monitoring and evaluation across all trial areas. The primary areas of focus include:
safety outcomes for e-scooter users and what influences this,
interaction with, and effect on, other road users,
public perceptions of e-scooters, including directly from people with disabilities and related groups.
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his planned timescale is for bringing forward legislative proposals to legalise the use of e-scooters. (107635)
“The Department has taken steps to allow trials of rental e-scooters in a number of local areas across the country. The trials will run across the next 12 months and will be closely monitored and evaluated by officials. This will build an evidence base to guide any future decisions about whether or not to legalise e-scooter use in the long-term and – if so – on what basis. It is not yet possible to determine the outcome of the trials and how they may influence timescales of future legislative proposals, if indeed they determine that e-scooters should be legalised.”