:01:44. > :01:54.In the north-west: We look at the race to be labour's police and
:01:54. > :01:54.
:01:54. > :30:56.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1741 seconds
:30:56. > :31:01.There are clearly some issues around data protection. Some
:31:01. > :31:06.agencies feel that they need to look very carefully at the way in
:31:06. > :31:13.which they share data before they actually do so.
:31:13. > :31:22.There is an issue of managing data. But they must prevent offending,
:31:22. > :31:29.especially in this sensitive area. That is absolutely clear.
:31:29. > :31:34.Witnesses were reminded of warnings like these.
:31:34. > :31:38.Some of the girls are in care, and they think they are easy meat.
:31:38. > :31:42.Had political correctness but in the way?
:31:42. > :31:52.There was a statement that this was committed because of the Asian
:31:52. > :31:53.
:31:53. > :32:00.community, and I disagree with it. The inquiry continues. I enjoyed by
:32:00. > :32:03.a representative of the charity Barnardo's. What needs to change?
:32:03. > :32:10.Every authority in the area has got to assume it is happening unless
:32:10. > :32:16.there is evidence to suggest it is not.
:32:16. > :32:19.And at the moment, is that not the default position of councils?
:32:19. > :32:24.Different councils are as different journeys in their response to
:32:24. > :32:26.sexual exploitation. From a north- west point of view, a lot of the
:32:26. > :32:31.North West councils are doing really well, particularly in
:32:31. > :32:38.Greater Manchester. I think others have got some work to do to get
:32:38. > :32:41.their strategy in place. We had there from Rochdale council
:32:41. > :32:45.that there have been questions over whether you can share information
:32:45. > :32:50.or not. Clearly, you can, but do you find that, that people are
:32:50. > :32:53.worried about this kind of thing? The information sharing aspect is a
:32:53. > :33:01.difficult one. But the legislation we have says that we can share
:33:01. > :33:03.information if it is about child- protection. So there's no need for
:33:03. > :33:07.new legislation. It is already there.
:33:08. > :33:12.And what about this issue of getting these kinds of cases to
:33:12. > :33:18.court in the first place? Clearly, the committee were doubtful whether
:33:18. > :33:22.greater Manchester police had done a good job. The police are saying,
:33:22. > :33:25.actually, we did want to push it but the CPS felt it would be
:33:25. > :33:30.typical deposited. Young people are unwilling to come
:33:30. > :33:32.forward and talk about their experiences, and what happens is
:33:33. > :33:41.they are traumatised again by having to go through the court
:33:41. > :33:44.process. I think there are a number of police of bosses -- police
:33:44. > :33:48.forces that are not policing in the right way. The whole system needs
:33:48. > :33:51.to get braver in terms of its response to young people.
:33:51. > :33:56.Is this an issue that comes across your desk as an MP?
:33:56. > :34:00.Issues around sexual exploitation with children exist in every
:34:00. > :34:05.community. There was a lot of discussion of the race element in
:34:05. > :34:10.regard to Rochdale. Most pupils would say that is an issue, but it
:34:10. > :34:13.is not the only issue. This happens in white communities. Every
:34:13. > :34:17.authority needs to think, this is an issue for us. They are going to
:34:17. > :34:20.have good thing about the victims. I think the court system is almost
:34:20. > :34:24.at the stage where we used to be in relation to domestic violence.
:34:24. > :34:31.These issues were never really gripped, and I think that now we
:34:31. > :34:37.have made good strides, the same thing now for sexual exploitation
:34:37. > :34:43.of young people... It is horrific, these kinds of offences. Everybody
:34:43. > :34:46.has got to take responsibility falls -- for this.
:34:46. > :34:52.Do you feel that the council in your area is dealing with these
:34:52. > :34:55.kinds of issues properly, in the way that Nick is suggesting?
:34:55. > :35:02.As Hazel said, it is a problem that is going across the whole of the
:35:02. > :35:05.country. In fact, just before I came on, I asked Keith Vaz about
:35:05. > :35:09.the Select Committee and what came out of it. He said that it is a
:35:09. > :35:13.problem that is widespread across the country. It is not just down to
:35:13. > :35:19.Rochdale. It is not really down to communities. It is happening all
:35:19. > :35:23.across the country. Each area has its own problems. But I believe in
:35:23. > :35:28.two weeks time, Tim Walton is going to be announcing two parliaments
:35:28. > :35:33.are measures of how to curb this behaviour and this kind of crime.
:35:33. > :35:36.What sort of changes do you think we should be looking for?
:35:36. > :35:39.I was concerned about the council saying they have problems with the
:35:39. > :35:44.data sharing. We brought in legislation that said clearly that
:35:44. > :35:48.it is not a problem about data sharing. I think there are some
:35:48. > :35:52.cult of barriers within organisations that the courage to
:35:52. > :35:56.say, we have got a problem, the priority is the victim, let's do
:35:56. > :35:59.share the information, white with domestic violence - people often
:35:59. > :36:01.have a whole history of offending. How can you make the proper
:36:01. > :36:04.decisions unless you have got the information?
:36:04. > :36:10.And that is not about changing the law, is it?
:36:10. > :36:13.Not at all. When I was minister, we changed the law. When you get a
:36:13. > :36:17.case conference about an issue, you need everybody, from the GP, the
:36:17. > :36:22.health service, the local austerity, to put information on the table.
:36:22. > :36:28.What do we know about these people? Then you can tackle it. To have the
:36:28. > :36:32.excuse about data sharing, in this day and age, is pretty poor. I hope
:36:32. > :36:34.we can say to be a disease now that it is not be enough to say that you
:36:34. > :36:37.were worried about sharing information. Surely the victims
:36:37. > :36:39.come first. And what changes would you like to
:36:39. > :36:44.see? I would like to see open
:36:44. > :36:49.information. We have to stamp out this problem in our society. The
:36:49. > :36:54.only way to do that is to have forces working together. We have to
:36:54. > :36:59.have new legislation to make it difficult for this kind of
:36:59. > :37:04.abhorrence in society to prevail. That is what I like to see.
:37:04. > :37:10.The deputy cured -- Jon's Commissioner painted a grim picture.
:37:10. > :37:14.Is that accurate? I think it probably is. The issue
:37:15. > :37:18.is that sexual exploitation is still quite hidden, really. In
:37:19. > :37:22.those areas where there are strategies and policies in place,
:37:22. > :37:28.we are seeing evidence of it. It is not hidden. It is only hidden if we
:37:28. > :37:32.don't look for it. That is the issue. I agree in terms of the
:37:32. > :37:35.multi-agency approach. This is key. Not one agency can fulfil the needs
:37:35. > :37:45.of young people who have been exploited.
:37:45. > :37:53.
:37:53. > :37:55.Thank you very much. Who runs the Police? That's not
:37:55. > :37:57.traditionally a question that's bothered most of us. It's been a
:37:57. > :38:00.mixture of chief constables, government and local police
:38:00. > :38:03.authorities. But it's changing, with arguably the most important
:38:03. > :38:05.elections of 2012. In November we'll get the chance to vote for
:38:05. > :38:07.new Police and Crime Commissioners for each force. Labour will
:38:07. > :38:10.announce its candidates tomorrow. Elaine Dunkley's been to Merseyside
:38:10. > :38:13.to see how they're getting on. Policing our streets has never been
:38:13. > :38:21.so challenging. Last year's riots and budget cuts pushed our forces
:38:21. > :38:25.to the limit. I had this message to the people
:38:25. > :38:29.who responsible for this can the Nazi. You will feel the full force
:38:29. > :38:33.of the law. -- this criminality. The government wants local people
:38:33. > :38:36.to feel they have a say in local policing by electing a figure head
:38:36. > :38:40.- the Police Crime Commissioner. What people want it to see that we
:38:40. > :38:44.get away from the bureaucratic accountability of the past few
:38:44. > :38:50.years. We have to give a local voice to police in the local area.
:38:50. > :38:53.That is what people want. So it's out with the old Police
:38:53. > :38:55.Authority and in with the New Police Crime Commisioner, who will
:38:55. > :38:59.be elected every four years. Responsibilities include budgets
:38:59. > :39:03.and hiring and firing chief constables. You don't need any
:39:03. > :39:06.experience to apply and the salary is around �85,000 a year.
:39:06. > :39:15.Tomorrow members of the Labour Party in Merseyside will choose who
:39:15. > :39:21.they want to back for the role. So let's meet the candidates.
:39:21. > :39:24.I intend to make it work, if I'm successful. We had a long way to go.
:39:24. > :39:26.Peter Kilfoyle is a former Labour MP and cabinet minister. He's
:39:26. > :39:28.helped put behind bars some of Merseyside's toughest gangsters.
:39:28. > :39:35.His priority is tackling anti- social behaviour in residential
:39:35. > :39:39.areas. I want to bring my years of
:39:39. > :39:46.experience, my know how in terms of having been a government minister,
:39:46. > :39:51.but more importantly just being born and raised in Merseyside. I
:39:51. > :39:54.know what Merseyside needs. My biggest fear is that the wrong
:39:54. > :39:56.person could be elected on a minority vote.
:39:56. > :39:59.Bill Weigtman is the current chair of the Merseyside Police Authority
:39:59. > :40:07.and a Labour councillor for Stockbrige village. His big focus
:40:07. > :40:14.is on tacking domestic violence. 18 years' experience, 24 years'
:40:14. > :40:18.experience of local government. I will not... I can hit the ground
:40:18. > :40:23.running. Although we don't agree in
:40:23. > :40:26.principle, I felt that I have something special to offer.
:40:26. > :40:32.Former MP Jane Kennedy has held six ministerial positions. Her big
:40:32. > :40:35.focus is on creating safer streets. I spent nearly four years in
:40:35. > :40:43.Northern Ireland, where I was the security minister working with the
:40:43. > :40:47.police, catwalk -- accountable to the public. I held the police to
:40:47. > :40:52.account for their conduct. It is a role I believe a similar to this
:40:52. > :40:55.new role that is being created on Merseyside.
:40:55. > :40:58.Over in Lancashire, this YouTube sensation is drumming up interest
:40:58. > :41:02.in the elections there, but in Merseyside it was difficult to find
:41:02. > :41:07.any real enthusiasm. However there were plenty of people who knew what
:41:07. > :41:12.they would do if they were in charge.
:41:12. > :41:17.I would look at the antisocial behaviour orders.
:41:17. > :41:23.This, like a lot of other things, it's just a layer of bureaucracy,
:41:23. > :41:27.like the male of Liverpool. -- mayor of Liverpool.
:41:27. > :41:30.I think we need more discipline in society.
:41:31. > :41:36.And so now it's a waiting game to see who will do the new role
:41:36. > :41:42.justice. The elections will take place in November.
:41:42. > :41:45.Joining us for this is Albert Kirkby, a former police
:41:45. > :41:50.superintendent with Merseyside Police. But let me start with David
:41:50. > :41:56.Morris. How many constituents say to you that the problem with the
:41:56. > :42:00.police is a lack of politicians? I think what must be addressed
:42:00. > :42:05.first and foremost is that the police gets a lot of criticism from
:42:05. > :42:12.all corners of society, sometimes needlessly. It is about time we had
:42:12. > :42:16.an elected official in place to address what the public wants. It
:42:16. > :42:20.is not unheard of. The leader of the council gets a mandate from his
:42:20. > :42:28.counsellors and people through them, and he has got the chief executive
:42:28. > :42:33.to act on it. The chief constable would act through the mandate of
:42:33. > :42:38.the people. I want to see decentralisation and it going to a
:42:38. > :42:42.police unit. What is wrong with that?
:42:42. > :42:46.The role of the commissioner is so much the same as to what is in
:42:46. > :42:54.place now. We have area commander responsible for people in their
:42:54. > :42:58.areas. We have the police operative responsible. But behind all that,
:42:58. > :43:03.there's a hold shaft of organisations that actually
:43:03. > :43:09.scrutinise the police - the courts, the IPCC, the home secretary,
:43:09. > :43:13.Parliament. So there's plenty of scrutiny there already. But one
:43:13. > :43:18.thing that I fear greatly is the introduction of politicians into it.
:43:18. > :43:25.When you look at what is happening in Merseyside, the mayor, he was
:43:25. > :43:32.only voted in by the people in the authority, not outside. They
:43:32. > :43:37.wouldn't go outside. He has openly said that he wants one of the
:43:37. > :43:43.candidates to work with them because he knows her and also she
:43:43. > :43:47.will be accountable to the Labour Party.
:43:47. > :43:51.Hazel Blears, you are an expert here. Are you worried about this?
:43:51. > :43:55.My solution was to have somebody who was a couple, but within the
:43:55. > :43:59.local government framework. -- accountable. I have got concerns
:43:59. > :44:03.about having a police commissioner, one person with all the power in
:44:03. > :44:06.the system. There's so many things that the local authority to sort
:44:06. > :44:12.out, especially at the social behaviour. You need to be connected
:44:12. > :44:15.to the whole system. I would have done accountability
:44:15. > :44:20.and chief superintendent level. I would have liked somebody in
:44:20. > :44:24.Salford to be accountable. The bigger of Wigan would like somebody
:44:24. > :44:28.accountable in Wigan. Stockport, Bolton, Bury, that is how you get
:44:28. > :44:34.that local sense of this is my person, he or she is responsible to
:44:34. > :44:39.me. The democracy element is really important. I think it is too big. I
:44:39. > :44:42.think it is too remote. I think people will say, it is another
:44:42. > :44:46.layer of bureaucracy. My other big worry is that the relationships
:44:46. > :44:49.here will be key. If you have a commissioner who does not get along
:44:49. > :44:55.with the Chief Constable, a commissioner who does not have a
:44:55. > :45:00.great religion with the crime panel, that is a recipe for confusion and
:45:00. > :45:04.not a great service. -- a great relationship.
:45:04. > :45:08.Albert Kirkby, is there a danger that we elect this police
:45:08. > :45:11.commissioner and all of a sudden that person started think, you know
:45:11. > :45:15.what, I am going to start taking control of this?
:45:15. > :45:20.I think that is a very real issue that has been taken on board. It is
:45:20. > :45:25.not without a track record. If you look at the Old watch committees,
:45:25. > :45:30.the political interference that took place at the serious and
:45:30. > :45:38.organised crime agency, which has now been disbanded and reform. Why?
:45:38. > :45:46.Because of political interference. Using that organisation to make it
:45:46. > :45:50.look as if they are doing well - I think there's a role for month --
:45:50. > :45:57.the commissioner. My concern is that all of a sudden it is going to
:45:57. > :46:02.become politically run and politically organised.
:46:02. > :46:11.I would take issue with that. I don't expect you not to, but it
:46:11. > :46:15.is a real issue because... People have said that this will
:46:15. > :46:18.become political, as if that is automatically a bad thing. If it is
:46:18. > :46:23.political and you pick and choose who you want to investigate, that
:46:23. > :46:28.is wrong. But actually, the number of crimes in your area, antisocial
:46:28. > :46:31.behaviour on the streets, whether you are taking action, these are
:46:31. > :46:35.political priorities. I think it is right that somebody is accountable
:46:35. > :46:39.to the public for what the priorities should be. Obviously the
:46:39. > :46:42.chief is going to decide on operational matters. But it is a
:46:42. > :46:47.balance in a democracy. It is right that somebody...
:46:47. > :46:52.Let me ask, what I don't get with this is you have put a system in
:46:52. > :46:55.place where there's no Freepost. The only people who can compete our
:46:55. > :47:00.political parties of rich individuals.
:47:00. > :47:04.But can you name who is under police authority? I am an MP, and I
:47:04. > :47:08.can't. You need somebody at the top who is democratically elected, he
:47:08. > :47:12.can call the shots and can act on behalf of the public.
:47:12. > :47:15.Now it's time for our smash and grab raid on some of the other
:47:15. > :47:19.political stories that have been around this week in the region.
:47:19. > :47:23.Here's Neil Morrow. Just who owns Blackburn Rovers was
:47:23. > :47:30.on the minds of a delegation led by Jack Straw, who on Wednesday met
:47:30. > :47:36.with the Sports minister Hugh Robertson.
:47:36. > :47:39.I think it is genuine. I see no evidence that they had been engaged
:47:39. > :47:43.in anything untoward. But there are big questions about who is behind
:47:43. > :47:47.them. Mixed news on the jobs front this
:47:47. > :47:50.week for the region. It's good news on the Wirral with Unilever
:47:50. > :47:53.transferring 400 jobs to its Port Sunlight site and creating an extra
:47:53. > :47:55.150 posts. It is great, especially for
:47:55. > :47:59.Merseyside. But over in Tameseide, the council
:47:59. > :48:02.is cutting 600 jobs, and that's on top of 1,300 that were shed last
:48:02. > :48:07.year. More and more cuts are being forced
:48:07. > :48:10.upon us. Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans has
:48:10. > :48:12.won a partial victory in his campaign for cheap Christmas card
:48:12. > :48:14.stamps. Royal Mail bosses have announced a scheme allowing people
:48:15. > :48:24.on pension credit, incapacity benefit and employment and support
:48:24. > :48:32.allowance to buy 36 stamps at last Do keep your thoughts and stories
:48:32. > :48:36.coming in. You can follow me, or indeed tweet me at @arifbbc for all