Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

My Lords, I speak in favour of the seven amendments. I start by expressing my appreciation to the Minister for the constructive approach she has adopted in conversations with both the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, and me about the role, powers and jurisdictions of the BTP. I know that she has written to the Transport Minister about these amendments and I hope that when she answers the debate she will be able to say that the Government at least accept the spirit of them, if not accept them tonight. I know from what the Minister said in Committee that she is particularly concerned about licensing issues and the difficulties that the BTP and the travelling public face with anti-social behaviour on the railway fuelled by excessive drinking. I shall come to the amendments which deal with that issue in a moment. I would like to add a word to what the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, said about jurisdiction. This is covered in Amendment 242. The British Transport Police Authority has sent me a copy of a letter which was sent on 7 July from the chief constable of the force, Andrew Trotter, to the Minister of State for Transport, Theresa Villiers. In a paragraph headed ““Jurisdiction””, he says: "““The current legislative anomalies mean that there are a number of caveats applied to the powers of BTP officers, these are provided not through our own Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, but the Anti-terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001 (section 100(2) and (3)) which pre-dated it. The amendment laid before the House of Lords seeks to remove the ambiguity the current legislation creates through these caveats. If the amendment is approved, in the eyes of the public and the rail industry, it will have no obvious impact on day-to-day policing of the railways and I can assure you it will have no impact on costs or other resource implications. It will however put BTP officers on the same footing as their Home Office colleagues when not physically on rail property or carrying out duties related to the railways, i.e. they will be warranted officers not civilians””." Amendments 271 and 272 deal with the Firearms Act. I read in the latest issue of Railnews, which is the monthly newspaper for rail industry staff, that the Government have approved the creation of an armed response unit for the BTP. That paper states: "““Transport secretary Philip Hammond said the Home Office go-ahead was not in response to any specific threat but would reduce the burden on other police forces which provide armed support to the BTP””." That is all well and good and it is what the BTP chief constable asked for, but it appears that BTP officers, once selected and through the selection process, will have to apply individually for firearms certificates. This seems ludicrous and flies in the face of the Home Secretary’s determination to reduce bureaucracy in the police service—a point made by the chief constable in his letter to Theresa Villiers. The cost in direct financial terms and in opportunity costs to the BTP and Home Office forces to process more than 100 applications is completely avoidable simply by giving the BTP the same powers as those expressly quoted in the Act for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the Serious Organised Crime Agency. It also creates a delay in trained officers being fully operational. Our amendments avoid that and I hope the Minister will feel able to accept them too. I turn finally to Amendments 304, 305 and 306. Amendments 304 and 305 seek to name the BTP as a responsible authority under the Licensing Act so it can object to a licence application, revoke a licence for premises located within the jurisdiction of the railway or object to a temporary licence. Amendment 306 explicitly provides for the BTP to receive the late-night levy from the licensing authority. Bearing in mind that so much BTP officer time is spent policing alcohol-related crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour, it seems most unfair that the BTP is not able to get some payment from the levy. I have a number of statistics relating to offences on railway stations. The one that apparently has the greatest difficulty is Leeds station which has 18 venues, including a nightclub and a hotel. Alcohol-related offences at Leeds have increased by 122 per cent in the past five years. I will not go into any more detail at this late hour, but I am sure the Minister will agree with me that this is an unacceptable situation. There are few things more unpleasant or potentially terrifying for rail passengers to face, particularly women travelling on their own late at night, than a bunch of drunken yobbos terrorising a train or a station platform. We cannot claim that our amendments will solve this problem but the BTP and we certainly believe it will help them tackle it. I hope very much that the Minister can accept the spirit of these amendments. The previous Government attempted to do that and were not able to produce exactly the right solution. She has the opportunity to produce a lasting solution for the future of the BTP’s powers and jurisdictions. If she does that, the travelling public, railway staff and the officers of the British Transport Police will be greatly in her debt.