Speeches by Cooper.

“The independent Prevent commissioner is probably more similar to the independent reviewer of counter-terrorism in its form. It is effectively an oversight process and mechanism to look at the effectiveness of the Prevent programme. As we know, Prevent has huge numbers of referrals each year and takes action on them, bu…”

“We do need to bring forward new legislation. Jonathan Hall identified challenges with the existing legislation, which was drawn up around terrorism. State threats often look like terrorism in their impact in communities and on public safety, but Jonathan Hall has made it clear that the nature of the organisation behind…”

“Some of this is terrorism-related material—it is unlawful and should not be online—but some of this is about radicalising processes that are taking place online, where the material may not be unlawful but the approach to young people is exploitative and dangerous. The first step is that, as part of the Online Safety Ac…”

“That is one of the issues that I am really worried about. We are seeing increasing extremism among young people. The CT caseload involving teenagers has trebled in the space of three years. I see it in the kinds of cases that I am briefed on as well. There are increasing numbers of teenagers, even as young as 13, where…”

“I understand that, and I know that many forces will continue to make representations about different issues. We will always look at representations that are made to us. All I would say is that there is never a perfect way to ensure funding for police forces, and there will always be individual police forces—probably in…”

“Individual police forces all over the country always have concerns that they face particular pressures. Those pressures may vary: they can be particular patterns of protest, other kinds of crime and other incidents. The capital faces the issue of big national events, such as the King’s coronation, and international eve…”

“I can write to you with the Policing Minister’s assessment of what the next steps and the timetable will be.”

“As you know, most police forces now use retrospective facial recognition, but there is also huge potential in terms of live facial recognition. Police forces strongly think that it requires a clear legal framework within which they can operate. The Policing Minister has been holding a series of meetings with police for…”

“We are strengthening that capacity. I think the Home Office did not have that capacity. Policing in the Home Office had been hollowed out over many years, going back to about 2013, as part of the reforms that were introduced. I think the Home Office was then hollowed out on policing and lost a lot of the sense of overs…”

“We are aligning our approach with some of the work around local government. For example, where mayors are being introduced, we have talked about policing powers coming under part of the responsibilities of mayors and deputy mayors. I understand the question that you raise, but some of these issues will be set out in th…”

“We are working with the police in a way that I think has not been done by the Home Office before—certainly not for a very long time—in drawing up proposals for the police reform White Paper. It is looking at a series of issues on how we modernise, reform and overhaul policing. That includes looking at what should right…”

“Clearly, those will be a central focus not just of the Home Office but right across the Government. We have set out our plan for change, and it is important that that is delivered and that we ensure the centrality of security underpinning much of what we do. It is the approach that we take in the Home Office, but it is…”

“First of all, on the terrorism offenders, obviously the most serious offenders are being exempted. There needs to be proper action in communities to make sure that cases are monitored, which is why the Lord Chancellor has already announced the increase in probation. As much as many Members might want to tempt me to com…”

“Clearly, we need to ensure that the prisons crisis is dealt with, that we do everything possible to make sure that criminals face justice and penalties for their crimes, and that public safety is maintained. We inherited the most appalling prison crisis. The previous Government, even in 14 years, had built only a few h…”

“The point of neighbourhood policing is to respond to the different kinds of challenges within each individual community. Depending on some areas, that might be about daytime shoplifting in particular town centres, or it might be about the nighttime economy—there might be particular areas where there are challenges in t…”

“First of all, neighbourhood policing matters in rural areas as much as it matters in urban areas. They are obviously different and will operate in different ways, with different patterns of working in rural areas, but that needs to be responsive to the kinds of communities. Secondly, we are working with the National Po…”

“We have been working very closely with the National Police Chiefs’ Council on how we roll out neighbourhood policing, including by making sure that we have regular monitoring, including month-by-month monitoring, to ensure that neighbourhood policing is being rolled out and that the financing within the £200 million fo…”

“The first steps we have set out on neighbourhood policing are perhaps one of the most important things we have done since I was last before the Committee. Over many years we have had the decline of neighbourhood policing, if not the decimation of neighbourhood policing, with many areas seeing their neighbourhood polici…”

“The Law Commission are undertaking a review on contempt of court and how information can be provided in anticipation of a trial. We have a long-standing tradition of trial by jury in this country, which has impacts on what can be said to ensure that there is a fair trial and that we do not end up with trial by jury bei…”

“I want to pay tribute to the first responders—the police, the fire service and the ambulance service—for the way they responded to what was a horrific incident. We will all have seen the images. It came on what should have been a day of joy for the city of Liverpool. Obviously, there were so many people there in the fi…”