The 7th report (HCP 364-I, session 2007-08, ISBN 9780215524867), from the Home Affairs Committee examines policing in the 21st century, with Volume 2, providing oral and written evidence, (ISBN 9780215524850). The Government aims to replace the top-down police targets with locally-set priorities and encourage greater use of officer discretion, backed by more effective supervision. At present, the Committee believes that public expectations of the police are not being met, with the public wanting the police to put a greater focus on minor crime and anti-social behaviour. Further, the police need to be more visible and responsive to the public and give greater consideration to the needs of the victim when investigating crime. Police resources have been put under greater pressure particularly where foreign nationals need to be processed. Whilst funding shortfalls have been exposed where rapid population change has occurred due to immigration.The Committee highlights a concern over the deployment of police for longer periods dealing with alcohol-related crime due to the changes in the licensing laws and are not convinced of the effectiveness of Alcohol Disorder Zones. Further, the Committee expresses concern about the large number of murder suspects released on bail, but do support amendments to the bail laws to take into account the capacity of the police forces to monitor offenders, and a presumption against bail in murder cases. There are also examples of effective police approaches in reducing gang-related knife and gun crime, combining diversionary activities and targeted intelligence-led campaigns against known offenders. The police need to find ways though to free up resources, and the Committee expresses disappointment at the lack of progress in reducing police bureaucracy. Centralisation of the development and purchase of technology through the National Policing Improvement should reduce costs and ensure systems are integrated and prevent duplication. More control should be given to local forces, with greater accountability of policing at a local level. The Committee also identifies a gap in provision for tackling serious and organised crime.

This report examines the proposal contained in the consultation paper "Policing in the 21st century: reconnecting police and the people" (Cm 7925, ISBN 9780101792523) for the introduction in England and Wales of elected Police and Crime Commissioners and the creation of Police and Crime Panels in each force area to scrutinise the Commissioners. The Commissioners would replace Police Authorities, and be responsible for holding Chief Constables to account. The first elections are scheduled for May 2012. Members of the Committee held widely differing views about the principle of elected Commissioners, but this inquiry seeks to determine how these proposals can best be delivered. The Committee believes there should be a cooling-off period of four years if a former senior police officer decides to stand as a Police and Crime Commissioner in the same area in which they have served. This restriction is necessary because otherwise they could be in the position of scrutinising decisions they had made while still in office. Commissioners should be responsible for the budget, staff, estate and other assets in their force area. Also recommended is a need for greater clarity on what is meant by operational independence: there is currently no statutory definition of operational independence and it should be defined in a written memorandum of understanding between the Home Secretary, Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners. The Police and Crime Panels should be comprised primarily of elected representatives from Councils in the force area, but also of a significantly smaller number of independent members.

In this report the Home Affairs Committee examines the Government's proposals for policing reform. Key findings: (i) it is unacceptable that, more than a year after the Government announced it was phasing out the National Policing Improvement Agency, it still has not announced any definite decisions about the future of the vast majority of the functions currently performed by the Agency - the phasing out of the Agency should be delayed until the end of 2012; (ii) after the Olympics, the Home Office should consider making counter-terrorism a separate command of the New National Crime Agency, rather than it being the responsibility of the Metropolitan Police; (iii) the Government must urgently appoint a head of the new National Crime Agency; (iv) a Professional Body for policing could ultimately become a useful part of the policing landscape; (v) the Home Office should be more active in encouraging and supporting forces to collaborate with one another; (vi) IT across the police service as a whole is not fit for purpose and the Home Office must make revolutionising police IT a top priority; (vii) the review of pay and conditions is having an inevitable impact on morale in the police service, but it is possible to do more to mitigate this; (viii) The Committee commends the work of Jan Berry, the former Reducing Bureaucracy in Policing Advocate, in emphasising that reducing bureaucracy in the police service is not simply about reducing paperwork but addressing the causes of that paperwork.

The Home Affairs Committee says that, faced with the prospect of funding cuts, the police service will have to fundamentally re-think the way in which it provides back-office functions in order to support the front-line. It says across the board the service needs more support from Government to allow the service to find new ways of maximising service levels and efficiency, such as involving the private sector, or exploring force mergers. Although figures show overall rises in both the number of police officers and the number of police staff employed across the service over the past five years this varied significantly across forces with 13 forces reporting a reduction over the same period. On the basis of provisional financial information from the Government, some forces are planning to cut officer numbers in the next financial year. The position after 2011 is unclear as the Government has given no indication of funding settlements after that, but all forces believe they will have to make significant spending cuts. The Committee believes it may be time to review the entire means by which money is allocated to forces, as the distribution of the police national grant is seen as a barrier to maximising resources. It has become clear to the Committee that voluntary mergers can enable forces to make substantial savings. And in the right circumstances, the private sector can provide the police with expertise they may lack, value for money in service delivery and a source of up-front investment.

In the world of transportation, fatigue is a silent killer that can affect us all. Understanding fatigue, including how to manage it to minimize safety risk, is of great importance. However, while it is one thing to recognize that fatigue is a critical safety issue, it is quite another to set up a successful, scientifically informed fatigue risk management programme. This book is here to help. It has been carefully designed as a comprehensive reference point, bringing together international expertise from leaders in fatigue science, and showcasing valuable insights from transportation industry practitioners. The 40 authored chapters are divided into six sections, to better understand fatigue science, the consequences of fatigue in transportation, contributors to fatigue, managing fatigue and promoting alertness, real world case studies of fatigue management in practice, and future perspectives. While it is possible to read each chapter in isolation, most will be gained by reading the book as a whole. Each chapter starts with an abstract overview and concludes with summary bullet points, creating a handy "quick check" for key points. This accessible text is for those who are interested in supporting alert and safe transportation operations. It is suitable for professionals, transport managers, government advisors, policy makers, students, academics, and anyone who wants to learn more. All transport modes (road, rail, maritime and aviation) are considered. For anyone waking up to the complex challenge of fatigue management, this handbook is a must.

The number of knife homicides increased by over a quarter between 2005/06 and 2006/07 and there also appeared to be a rise in other serious knife violence during this year. A 48 per cent increase in stab-related hospital admissions between 1997/98 and 2006/07 may indicate that knives are being used to inflict more serious wounds. The majority of knife victims and perpetrators are young men in their late teens and early twenties and the high levels of knife violence since 2006 appear to be the result of an increase in street violence between groups of young people who are sometimes referred to as 'gangs'. Knife violence is concentrated in the deprived parts of big cities. Most young people who carry knives say they do so for 'protection'; status and peer pressure are also factors. The Committee is convinced us of the need to target knife-carriers and violent offenders separately. For the former, it advocates education in schools about the realities of knife-carrying and measures to help young people feel safer, such as improving confidence in the police and better victim support, and it supports the use of stop and search, providing it is carried out in an appropriate manner. The use of custody as an appropriate sentence for the majority of knife-carriers and for violent offenders is offset by high re-offending rates that highlight its ineffectiveness as a long-term solution to violent crime. The report advocates the adoption of a long-term violence reduction strategy that focuses on prevention. Specific recommendations include early intervention with babies and toddlers born into dysfunctional families and a more strategic approach to providing diversionary activities and support for excluded young people.

The Government intends to place an immigration cap on non-EEA economic migrants to the UK. This is currently controlled through the points based system (PBS) under which those wishing to work or study in the UK must gain points for certain attributes in order to qualify for entry. The PBS consists of five tiers: Tier 1: Highly-skilled migrants; Tier 2: Skilled workers with a job offer; Tier 3: Low skilled workers (indefinitely suspended); Tier 4: Students; Tier 5: Temporary Workers and Youth Mobility (primarily non-economic routes). This report examines: the impact a cap would have on the ability of UK business and industries to recruit the skills and staff they require; the numbers of skilled and non-skilled migrants likely to be affected by a cap on Tiers 1 and 2; the impact and effectiveness of a 'first come, first served' or a pool system for highly skilled migrants under Tier 1; and of a 'first come, first served', a pool, or an auction, system for skilled migrants under Tier 2; whether and how intra-company transfers should be included in a cap; the implications of merging the Resident Labour Market Test and Shortage Occupation Lists; whether dependents should be included in the cap, and the effect of including them. Overall, the Committee believes a cap would make little difference to immigration unless it was set at virtually zero. There is a risk that a permanent cap could hamper businesses, prevent top-class international professionals from coming to the UK and damage the UK's ability to recruit the most distinguished scientists into universities.