Fighting Crime (Public Engagement)

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for raising my next point: how we provide the public with greater reassurance about the crime figures. In categories where the statistics are politically charged, we have had periods when their credibility has been completely destroyed by a Government misusing them or an Opposition attempting to undermine them. I give the hon. Gentleman the example of the unemployment figures under the Conservative Governments of 1979 and onwards, when there were so many changes that in the end people did not believe them. There is only one solution, although he did not spell it out. We must give the Office for National Statistics a much clearer and more hands-on role in ensuring that the publication of the crime statistics, whether on a British crime survey basis or a recorded basis, is correct and that the public can have confidence in them. To what extent is there a match-up between neighbourhood watch and the Government's proposed community champions? It sounds like the same sort of idea branded in a slightly different way. We have rightly discussed the important role of special constables and the need to boost them. The Minister mentioned the possibility of having fewer special constables who are more active in terms of the days that they spend with their local force. It would be interesting to have the data on that to see whether it is the right approach. All Members, on both sides of the House, want special constables to play an important role. It is the best and one of the oldest examples of drawing the community in through voluntary work. I agree with the right hon. Member for Leicester, East that it would be profoundly desirable if there were a genuine political consensus about policing. The police, above all, would like that, because they do not want their professional status to be brought into question by what they see as a political debate that sometimes does not so much shed light as generate heat. We all seem able to agree on the need for public accountability of the police force at local level. We should get rid of national targets, because they are past their sell-by date. I agree with what the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) said about accountability to local people. Local people know what their priorities are and what their service is, and if they are given the power to elect a body that will in turn hold the chief constable to account we will have the beginnings of an answer to this problem, which we all want to be solved.