PARTY CONFERENCE
PFEW MEETS CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADERS
PFEW Acting National Chair, and co-Parliamentary Lead, Tiff Lynch, and co-Parliamentary Lead Belinda Goodwin hosted a meeting during the
Conservative Party Conference that was attended by Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers and other MPs along with police and crime commissioners
- that there would be no movement away from engaging with the PRRB in its current form. It was set out strongly that what we are asking for is a fairer way of negotiating and this would require one form of a sit down with the Government to discuss all areas of pay and conditions for officers and there should be no political interference in that process. The Policing Minister had assured that she hears us and will take this back to the cabinet.
“Overall, it was a different experience from engaging at the Labour Party Conference considering the Conservatives are now in Opposition. We will continue to push our campaigns with a view to gain more cross-party support,” observed PFEW National Board member and co-Parliamentary Lead Belinda Goodwin.
Recently PFEW Parliamentary leads met a group of Conservative Party MPs and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to raise issues affecting the rank and file officers in England and Wales. The informal meeting at the Conservative Party Conference brought together Conservative Members of Parliament and PCCs to discuss the pressing issues affecting our members and how they can help us in influencing the Government in addressing these issues. The meeting also provided an opportunity to build relationships with new in post Labour MPs and PCCs. One of the major topics of discussion was PFEW’s #SimplifyDG6 campaign to amend the Data Protection Act 2018. The amendment is aimed at allowing unredacted data sharing between the police service and the Crown Prosecution Service at the pre-charge stage. The
32 | POLICE | DECEMBER | 2024
attendees were appraised on the progress being made in getting the amendment passed by Parliament and how they in the Opposition can help in doing it. On
“Overall, it was a different experience from engaging at the Labour Party Conference considering the Conservatives are now in Opposition.”
average, since 1 January 2021, 365,000 policing hours have been consumed annually in redacting case files pre-charge. The other central topic of discussion was the need for a fairer system for negotiating police pay and conditions. At the Labour Party Conference, John Partington, National Board member and Acting Deputy National Secretary, had spoken to the Policing Minister around what she stated at the this year’s Police Superintendents’ Association Conference
PFEW representatives elaborately discussed the incidents of civil unrest over this summer, which required extensive mutual aid and resulted in officers working long hours and cancelling rest days, underscoring the pressures officers face daily. The burnout experienced by officers and the need for better support, including improved personal protective equipment, were also discussed. The growing trend of officer assaults, especially in the wake
of operations such as Op Navette, was also raised. Daily reports of assaults on officers have reached unacceptable levels, and there was a strong consensus that more needs to be done to support and protect officers. This includes better equipment and more consistent training across the 43 police services, as inconsistencies in procurement practices were flagged as an issue. The lack of sufficient funding for officer safety initiatives was seen as a crucial area requiring government attention.
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