Local Resilience Forums

Lord Birt Excerpts

Thursday 16th April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

I absolutely agree with my noble friend that one size does not fit all in this respect. He may be aware that my fellow Minister, my noble friend Lady Twycross, and myself have both worked in emergency services, so we know how important it is to get this right for local areas, and that absolutely goes alongside the devolution programme. Alongside that reorganisation and devolution, we are committed to strengthening the role of strategic authorities and mayors in local resilience, which will give the opportunity to develop local solutions. We are safeguarding emergency preparation and response effectiveness, making sure we get that continuity through the reorganisation programme. Part of the trailblazer programme is to introduce the concept of chief resilience officers, which we are looking at and will be testing. That will inform the 2027 review of the Civil Contingencies Act.

[Lord Birt (CB)]

My Lords, utilising modern science and technology, the police appear to be addressing the most serious crime very effectively. But we all know that we have an epidemic of offending on our streets—and our high streets—unmatched in my lifetime, with shoplifting, phone-snatching, drug-dealing and rogue bikers. Does the Minister accept that we need to take a fresh look at how the police are organised and tasked?

[Baroness Taylor of Stevenage (Lab)]

My noble friend Lord Hanson, who has the next Question, may be better placed to answer that question. I agree that there was a real error made in decriminalising shoplifting. We are addressing that now and work is being done on it. As the noble Lord, Lord Hogan-Howe, carries on his review of police structures, which will report this summer, the Home Office is absolutely committed to ensuring that local policing remains at the heart of any changes to force structures. The policing White Paper is clear that responsive local policing will be guaranteed through local policing areas, with local officers focused on tackling the epidemic of everyday local crime. That undermines our communities; it causes great distress in them, and both our mayors and our police service want to tackle that as quickly as possible.