Ministers accused of burying bad news
Opposition MPs have acccused the government of burying bad news by releasing a critical report on the police service’s handling of calls just hours after David Blunkett’s resignation.
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) warned in yesterday’s report that callers to the police service are sometimes kept waiting for hours for a response.
“Most current provision falls short of the standards the public demands and deserves,” said chief inspector Ronnie Flanagan.
The police force currently receives about 67 million calls a year for assistance, and Sir Ronnie added: “This issue is too important to ignore – it underpins every aspect of modern policing.”
A Home Office spokesman welcomed the report but admitted that it “clearly showed that significant work needed to be done”.
However, opposition parties have questioned the timing of the report’s publication, coming just hours after the work and pensions secretary resigned yesterday morning.
Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Mark Oaten said it was a “disgrace”, while shadow home secretary David Davis said the timing was “very odd”.
He added: “This government has form for burying bad news and it looks like they might be up to the same old tricks again.”
However, the Home Office spokesman dismissed this claim as “nonsense”, saying the decision on when to publish the report was made by HMIC.
The policing watchdog said that a third of forces in England and Wales did not have an adequate overall strategy for the organisation of call-handling centres.
And it recommended that a new national non-emergency number be introduced to deal with people’s queries about less serious concerns.
The Home Office spokesman admitted this measure to deal with issues such as noisy neighbours could help “relieve the pressure” on the police, but said a date had not yet been set for when this might be introduced.
