Community Response Bill

A

BILL

TO

Make provision for the abolition of Police Community Support Officers, and to create a Community Response Agency, to reduce police workload, tackle social issues, and foster pride in local communities.

BE IT ENACTED by The King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons and Lords, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:–

Part 1: Abolition of Police Community Support Officers

Section 1: Definitions for Part 1

In Part 1 of this Act–

(1) A “PCSO” shall refer to a Police Community Support Officer, pursuant to the Police Reform Act 2002.

Section 2: Abolition of PCSOs

(1) Section 38(2) of the Police Reform Act 2002 shall be repealed

(2) Section 28(4)(a) of the Policing and Crime Act 2017 shall be repealed

Section 3: Provisions for retraining of existing PCSOs

(1) PCSOs serving with all police forces, territorial or otherwise, within the area of this Bill’s extent, shall be given the option either to;

(a) Receive training, to the appropriate standards, and be sworn as, a Constable, or (b) Retrain as a social worker, and become a member of their local Community Response Agency.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Chief Constables of each of the police forces, territorial or otherwise, to train those PCSOs who wish to be sworn as a Constable.

(3) A grant shall be made, per Constable or Responder trained and sworn pursuant to this section, of not less than £13,500 for each, to cover the cost of training, by the Home Office.

(4) The aforementioned process shall take place over a period of twelve (12) months, at the end of which, all remaining PCSOs must have chosen either to retrain as Constables, or to start their training as Responders.

Part 2: Community Response Agency

Section 4: Provisions for the establishment of a Community Response Agency

(1) A Community Response Agency shall exist in every Territorial Police area in the area of the extent of this legislation, which shall be responsible for handling non-criminal incidents to which police officers would normally be sent.

(2) Such agencies shall recruit the following persons:

(a) Mental Health workers

(b) Social Workers

(2) Such agencies detailed in paragraph 1 may recruit persons, deemed to their discretion, satisfactory to carry out desired functions, relating but not limited to a background in —

(a) Mental Health Work, and

(b) Social Care Work.

(3) Each Territorial Community Response Agency shall be under the purview of their local Police, Fire, and Crime Commissioner, or equivalent pursuant to the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016.

(a) The City of London shall be able to have its own Community Response Agency, composed of former City of London Police PCSOs and other personnel recruited by it pursuant to this Act.

(4) Each Territorial Community Response Agency shall recruit not less than five (5) responders per ten thousand (10,000) persons resident in their area of responsibility.

(a) Areas of greater deprivation (local government wards ranking in deciles 1-4) shall have not less than eight (8) responders per ten thousand (10,000) persons resident.

(5) The Duties of each Community Response Agency shall be as follows:

(a) To respond to issues of homelessness, drug addiction and overdose, mental health crisis, antisocial behaviour, or any other non criminal incident which may lead to potential future criminal activity.

(b) To foster relationships with members of the community for which they are responsible, and to promote non violent means of dispute resolution, dialogue between segments of communities, and to work with community leaders to enable them to foster pride in their local area.

(c) To reach out to local schools to assist them in dealing with social issues such as truancy, drug and alcohol addiction, poor behaviour, and other such issues.

(d) To establish and support Youth Outreach programs, including mentoring initiatives, after school activities, and community engagement events aimed at diverting young people from crime, providing guidance, and fostering positive development.

(e) To assist individuals suffering from intimate partner violence, in collaboration with the Police, and acting as a first port of call for these individuals to access services they need.

(6) The Powers of each Community Responder shall be as follows:

(a) To detain a person for the purposes of taking them to receive mental healthcare for an urgent mental health crisis, for a period no greater than two hours.

(b) To issue a legally binding referral to other local services, such as Social Services, mental health services, Pupil Referral Units, local drug services, police, and other such services, which must be responded to with some form of action to remedy the issues raised in said referral within 10 working days.

(7) Each Community Responder shall receive training in the following areas, the precise syllabuses and standards for which shall be set by the National Board of Commissioners of Community Response :

(a) First Aid, to include handling of drug overdoses, basic trauma, and resuscitation.

(b) Conflict resolution and mediation

(c) Community and social work

(d) Responding to mental health crises, drug overdose and addiction, and other social issues

(8) National responsibility for all such Community Response Agencies shall rest with a National Board of Commissioners of Community Response, which shall be comprised of every Commissioner of such agencies, alongside 10 experts in the field of social work who shall be appointed to the Board by His Majesty, the King, upon the advice of His Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Home Department.

(a) His Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Home Department shall have ultimate ministerial responsibility for the provision of such services.

(9) The following ranks shall exist within the Community Response Agencies, with the relevant pay grades;

(a) Responder in Training, which shall be compensated at an equivalent rate to Constables in training.

(b) Responder, which shall be compensated between the same ranges as Police Constables.

(c) Senior Responder, which shall be compensated within the same ranges as Police Sergeants.

(d) Area Officer, which shall be compensated within the same ranges as Police Inspectors and Chief Inspectors.

(e) Regional Officer, which shall be compensated within the same ranges as Police Superintendents and Chief Superintendents.

(f) Assistant Commissioner of Community Response, which shall be compensated within the same ranges as Police Assistant Chief Constables

(g) Commissioner of Community Response, which shall be compensated within the same ranges as Police Chief Constable. For each territorial Community Response Agency, there shall be one Commissioner of Community Response, who shall be appointed by the Police, Fire, and Crime Commissioner to be the agency executive, and who shall have ultimate responsibility for commissioning and providing such community response services.

(10) His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services shall hereby be renamed “His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue, and Community Response Services”, and shall be given the additional duty of inspecting and overseeing the provision of the services provided under this Act, and shall create standards by which the provision of these services will be inspected and judged.

Part 3: Miscellaneous

Section 5: Short title and commencement

(1) This Act may be cited as the Community Response Act 2023.

(2) This Act comes into force on the receipt of Royal Assent.

Section 6: Extent

(1) This Act applies to England only,unless–

(a) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, in which case it shall also apply to Scotland, or
(b) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Senedd Cymru, in which case it shall also apply to Wales, or
(c) a Legislative Consent Motion is passed in the Northern Ireland Assembly, in which case it shall also apply to Northern Ireland.

This Bill was written by the Right Honourable /u/ironass2 MP, Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department, on behalf of His Majesty’s 37th Official Opposition.

Opening Speech

Mx Deputy Speaker,

Today our police are faced with such a multiplicity of different tasks which they have been given by this Honourable House and Governments of all stripes that they are unable to respond to the entire gamut of situations to which they must respond in the best way possible. Police Officers, while well trained, can only handle so many tasks, and it is for this reason that I wrote this Bill. This is not merely an initiative of necessity, it is an initiative of justice, compassion, and true community collaboration.This bill aims to alleviate this overextension and provide a more targeted, efficient, and humane approach to social issues within our communities.

With the creation of a Community Response Agency, I am proposing that we recruit a dedicated cadre of professionals who are skilled and trained to address societal concerns. Social workers, mental health professionals, addiction specialists - a diverse range of experts capable of providing assistance that police officers may not be best equipped to offer.

When a person is battling mental illness or struggling with substance abuse, they need support, treatment, and understanding. These are health and social issues, not criminal ones. We, as a society, must ensure that these individuals are met with the correct support systems, rather than a criminal justice approach ill-suited to their needs. Young people who don’t have good and fulfilling interests to occupy their free time, who choose to take part in antisocial behaviour, need to be given alternatives, not to be arrested.

Moreover, this agency will strengthen our communities by fostering a preventative, rather than reactive, approach to social issues. By ensuring that those in need receive the appropriate aid, we prevent situations from escalating into law enforcement issues, reducing the overall strain on our police forces and allowing them to focus on their central duties.

This bill is not about diluting the powers of our police, but rather, ensuring that we provide the best possible support for our citizens, by creating an organisation that has the tools to deal with these problems properly. It's about understanding that social issues require social solutions and that to truly care for our society, we need to ensure the right help is given by the right individuals at the right time.

This Honourable House has a duty to ensure the welfare and security of all citizens. We must consider that duty in all its complexity and respond to the multifaceted issues that our society faces with appropriate, expert, and compassionate responses.

Thus, Mx Deputy Speaker, I encourage my esteemed colleagues to consider the bill before us not as an alteration of our current system, but as an enhancement. An enhancement that will allow our police to better focus on their core responsibilities, a new approach that will improve our societal response to a range of social issues, and an advancement towards a more compassionate and understanding nation, that is tough not just on crime, but on the causes of crime.

Thank you.

This division will end on the 8th of August at 10PM.