Speeches by Davies.

“So, to summarise, the version that was being brought forward before the general election was not mandatory enough, in your opinion: there were so many exceptions that effectively it did not make it mandatory. John O’Brien: There were other exceptions, but the biggest exception was around 13 to 18-year-olds.”

“That is very helpful. Thank you. Let us turn to recent developments since the July general election and under the new Home Secretary. Can you explain to the Committee the contact that you had with the new Home Secretary and Home Office Ministers, specifically from July to December of last year?”

“I will come on to the meeting last week, if possible, but from July to December was there one meeting with Minister Phillips? John O’Brien: And the event in Parliament here. That was before—”

“That was before the general election. Did the meeting follow the same settings as the previous attempts that you had had with various Home Secretaries before the general election, in terms of wanting to understand the process of taking your recommendations forward?”

“I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a councillor in Telford and Wrekin, as well as an honorary vice-president of the Local Government Association. The Government’s first step to restore funding for local government after a very difficult 14 years is welcome, but council areas …”

“Just thinking about our European colleagues though, could they do more or are you impressed by what they have done up to this point? Clearly, in order for this Government to achieve their ambitions to smash the criminal gangs, we do need European colleagues, and international colleagues for that matter, to co-operate a…”

“Thank you, Chair. Home Secretary, we have mentioned knife crime already and it has remained very, very high in this country despite a range of measures brought in over the last 10 years. What plans do you have to reduce this crime and do you see the violence reduction units, particularly in London, as key to that acros…”

“We talked about innovation. Bedfordshire Police, for example, cracked their reduction issue a long time ago but you can still talk to other police forces that are still battling with that issue, which seems bizarre given that we should have a national police service delivered at a local level. Will you mandate and pena…”

“On the piecemeal work on how policing is operated, there are some really good police forces and some not so good and there are some that are innovating and some not so good. How do you ensure that the standards across all police forces are good or outstanding? Do you think that a reorganisation of police forces, in the…”

“What are your views on stop and search by police officers in this regard?”

“Some of these knives are terrifying just to look at. Is there a need to consult on them or can we just move to a ban on them as a matter of urgency? What is the point of consulting on them? For some of them it is very difficult to come up with any lawful explanation as to why you would want one of those in your premise…”

“Thank you, Home Secretary. Can you also ensure that that response confirms that where there are local reports, those recommendations are taken into the mind of the Home Office and that that informs policy development going forward?”

“You are quite right that in the independent inquiry report in October 2022 and in June 2023, Alexis Jay, the chair, said that she was deeply disappointed that her recommendations had not been taken forward by the then Government. Do you have a timeline for when the recommendations will be fully reviewed and a response …”

“Thank you. Over the last few years, the Home Office has had a reputation of working in silos. I used to be a council leader and would find that the council was having to pay a hotel for the same room twice because Home Office was making decisions about claimants and responsibility was passing to different hands. When y…”

“I have two quick questions. First—and this might be for the officials—what was the reason for that collapse in decision-making; the 80% drop before the election?”

“Do you see the role of DfID and the International Development Fund as crucial to the Home Affairs effort you are talking about now?”

“In terms of the push and pull factors—climate change, war, jobs, skills—what is your measure of success? Is it migration numbers going down or return numbers going up? How do you measure success in that space?”

“Clearly, it is a key mission and a foundational mission of the new Government. What appetite do you detect from our European colleagues? Where does this feature in their prioritisation? You mentioned Germany, for example. Why would Germany want to prioritise this piece of work using their own assets of state?”

“I do not know if anyone wants to add anything to that but, finally, there is a threshold test. Even low-level antisocial behaviour during a protest multiple times across a year might not necessarily tip over the threshold of violent disorder, but is it legitimate protest in your view? Do you feel that you can push back…”

“What is the balance between what is a protest and what is not a protest, particularly—it has been mentioned in the evidence session—where initially locally it looked like a protest but nationally other things were going on? Do we have the balance right in this country when deciding between a legitimate protest and thug…”