Speeches by Lowe.

“You are not looking at centralised purchasing.”

“It has gone up, Geoffrey. It is increasing.”

“Not really, because I think it does affect the operational efficiency.”

“It is a relevant question because it is costing money and it is arguably making the police less efficient, which is why I am asking that question.”

“It is undermining the confidence of the actual operational police.”

“You are not driving the DEI agenda. Is there an active DEI agenda being promoted within the police force?”

“My question is to the Permanent Secretary, and it is on the data point. The Home Office keeps saying that it wants to improve police productivity. It says that it wants to drive efficiency. It says that it wants to tackle resource pressures. How can you manage what you do not measure? How can you understand the impact …”

“I will take it that you do not know. Frankly, it is unbelievable, Permanent Secretary, because you do not hold this data. I do not know why not. Is it ideological? Is it incompetence? Why do we not hold it? The British people want this data. Dame Antonia Romeo: Chair, sorry, if I —”

“Hang on. Can I just finish? The British people want this data. They want to know the impact that these illegal men are having on their police forces’ capabilities. How can you claim to be improving productivity when police forces are being loaded with immigration tasks that you do not measure, you do not report, and yo…”

“There is always a report, and it is always going to be published in due course. We keep hearing this from the civil service and, frankly, it is not good enough.”

“It is your decision.”

“There are always reports that we are waiting for, and this data should be readily available. With AI, it should be much easier now to collect this data. That is, basically, my question, Chair. I do not see how we can manage police efficiency when we do not have the data. It is impossible. You cannot run a business with…”

“I run multiple organisations, and you are having trouble transitioning an accounting package for the school here, so that does not fill me with great confidence. It is not that difficult to transition an accounting package, frankly. I find it incredible that that cannot happen. I ask these simple questions and I never …”

“I worked with Hampshire police when I was chairman of Southampton, and they were excellent at their job. I have to say, though, that the Home Office, when I ask questions, is by far the worst at answering them. You are the worst offenders in terms of giving me no data, which is disappointing. I hope that we will start …”

“I have one question for the Permanent Secretary and one for Sir Andy. I had a look at your profile, Dame Antonia. I am not a great man at doing research, but it did not take me very long to find out that many in Whitehall and the media call you the “queen of woke”. Do you recognise that title?”

“It is driven by your championing and proactive implementation of high-paying DEI roles within the civil service. I had a quick look.”

“If you dispute that, this is what the media have said.”

“If I go on to my question, I think you will understand. I had a quick look. In 2021-22, the police forces spent £15 million on DEI and there were 147 DEI officers. Whether they are highly paid or lowly paid I leave to everybody to judge. In 2023-24, there are 197. The DEI virus is growing within the police force. Are y…”

“Geoffrey, this is quite important. They come to see me because they think the police are being made less efficient by the cant that is coming from the top of the police force, which clearly is coming from somewhere. This is my question. Does it make them operationally less efficient? I then have, in a moment, an observ…”

“Are you driving the DEI agenda within the police force?”