Lord Hogan-Howe (CB)

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken, particularly the Ministers, the noble Baroness, Lady Jones, and the noble Lord, Lord Katz, for all the time they have given us on this very long Bill with many amendments. I and others involved in this appreciate their time, as we know it is not straightforward. The noble Lord, Lord Evans, mentioned the cape; I thought only I remembered that in this Chamber, but clearly not. More importantly, he made a good point about equivalence with the Armed Forces. Reservists are in a slightly different position, but it is one that we should be drawn back to as a matter of conscience as we consider this. The noble Lord, Lord Harris, made a very good point about the strategic defence review. He accepted the principle in this case but wanted the role to be fleshed out. I agree, but that should not stop us making progress on this point. The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, drew attention to the fact that it is not just general patrol. Some become very specialist; we have traffic officers, public order specialists and some very good forensic accountants who do their job professionally every day and then come in at the weekend to help the police recover criminal assets—a great public service for which the police probably could not afford to pay. The noble Lord, Lord Bailey, mentioned diversity and community. About one in four specialists in London is from a visible minority community, which is far better representation than the Met has. The Met is hidebound by the fact that two-thirds of the people it recruits are from outside London, so there is always the challenge of getting that representation, but specialists live and work in the community they serve. Frankly, when the police are not paying them, they cannot afford to travel to an adjacent county, so a specialist constabulary always better represents the community it serves. The noble Lord, Lord Remnant, mentioned his father. I did not know that, but it was a good thing; I was grateful for that day off—and a few more. Many officers go through their careers with extended periods of working during large numbers of public protests, to the point where they cannot get their days off, so that would be very much appreciated. The noble Lord, Lord Goddard, said one of the things I like best to hear, which is that this is blindingly obvious. Of course, I agree with that. I also appreciate that the noble Lord, Lord Sharpe, with his professional background, supported it, particularly today. The Minister was kind enough to offer a review. All of us in this place know that reviews can be a bit vague and go on a while—I think this is the second one offered in the last hour. I have lost count in my short time in this place of the number of reviews of which someone has said, “Where did that get to? Has it been delivered? Has anything happened?” It is not a personal matter with the Minister, but I am not entirely convinced by reviews. I go back to the spirit of what the noble Lord, Lord Goddard, said. You can sometimes spend a thousand words trying to change something, or you can just do something. The “doing” here would be that the regulation could be changed and special constables could be brought into a group that already exists. For that reason, I would like to divide the House.