It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, [K Mrs Harris. I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle [K and Clitheroe on his career in policing, on everything he shared with us an [2D [K and on securing this debate. The start of his speech was incredibly powerfu [7D [K powerful, and reflected what I hear often from our police both in my incred [6D [K incredibly privileged position as Policing Minister and in my constituency [K role in Croydon. I have heard of many cases, such as that of a police offic [5D [K officer in Croydon who had to hold the wound of someone who had been stabbe [6D [K stabbed while they waited for the ambulance. The trauma of that side of the [3D [K the role is there loud and clear for everyone to see, but there is also cum [3D [K cumulative trauma from all the other things that have to be done, from how [K the police are sometimes treated and from how they feel that they do not ne [2D [K necessarily have the support of Government or the public. My hon. Friend th [2D [K the Member for Pendle and Clitheroe described that well, and I cannot do it [2D [K it better. Tomorrow, I will spend the day trying to be as incognito as poss [4D [K possible while going around with a neighbourhood police officer. I will spe [3D [K spend the whole day on a shift and hear as much as I can about the lived ex [2D [K experience of being a police officer. I am sad not to have done that before [6D [K before this debate, but I am looking forward to it very much. However, my h [1D [K hon. Friend made a powerful speech and, as I think all other Members in the [3D [K the debate have said, the police do a brilliant job and we should not under [5D [K underestimate what they do. We should thank them, never forget what we ask [K of them and always do right by them. Within that context, the Government ar [2D [K are trying to reform policing to enable the police to do the job that they [K came into the service to do, whether that means ripping away the bureaucrac [10D [K bureaucracy of a lot of the tasks that the police are given—historically, w [1D [K we have not invested in new technology and pieces of kit—or putting police [K back into our neighbourhoods, so that we can do the things that the public [K want us to do without public frustration at the lack of response. Of course [6D [K course, the biggest police reform in 200 years is looking at the whole stru [4D [K structure within policing. In that context, police officers still have to g [1D [K get on with their job; they not only have a difficult job, but have quite a [1D [K a lot of change heading their way. We need to respect that. In the middle o [1D [K of all that is the Police Federation, which has an interesting role. A lot [K of Members have said the same thing: on the one hand, the police do a brill [5D [K brilliant job, and a lot of the fed reps do a brilliant job, but on the oth [3D [K other hand, something is clearly wrong with how the federation has been fun [3D [K functioning. We have talked about this before, but since I became the Minis [5D [K Minister in September I have seen the fed every two weeks and we have a cat [3D [K catch-up. Most of the conversations are about what we are doing on the tran [4D [K transformation journey, what has happened and what is coming down the line. [5D [K line. I think that it is fair to say there has been frustration, such as ab [2D [K about the 33 recommendations for changes needed in the federation made by B [1D [K Baroness Bousted in her review. The change is not coming in the way that pe [2D [K people expect, as fast as people want, or in a way that we would expect. Go [2D [K Government have a role, but we do not have quite the same relationship with [4D [K with any other organisation; we have a statutory responsibility. The legisl [6D [K legislation states: "There shall continue to be a Police Federation for Eng [3D [K England and Wales for the purpose of representing members of the police for [3D [K forces in England and Wales, and special constables", and that in fulfillin [9D [K fulfilling that purpose, the federation must…protect the public interest…ma [11D [K interest…maintain high standards of conduct, and…maintain high standards of [2D [K of transparency." Our obligation as a Government to ensure that those thing [5D [K things are happening is set in law. Clearly, therefore, we take the questio [7D [K question of whether those functions are fulfilled in the way that they shou [4D [K should be very seriously. It is no secret that we have been frustrated, as [K have many others, at the pace and scale of change. Of course, we saw arrest [6D [K arrests that came in the middle of this conversation as well, which have ma [2D [K made things very difficult. We were very explicit about this in the White P [1D [K Paper on police reform. We said: "We expect to see clear plans and…demonstr [12D [K and…demonstrable improvement" in the fed's operation. We also said: "In the [3D [K the absence of such improvements, this Government stands ready to bring for [3D [K forward reforms to ensure that the interests of rank-and-file officers are [K properly, effectively and robustly represented." Given the arrests since th [2D [K the publication of the White Paper, it is very hard for the federation to g [1D [K give us the reassurance that we need, because of everything that has happen [6D [K happened. We are continuing the conversations with the federation. There is [2D [K is a lot of interaction between officials in my Department and the fed, and [3D [K and we are sharing data and information, and talking these things through. [K I do not think that anyone can pretend that the status quo is an option. It [2D [K It is not. This Government stand ready to do the right thing. The shadow Mi [2D [K Minister, the hon. Member for Stockton West (Matt Vickers), asked what we a [1D [K are considering. I am not in a position to say what the next steps look lik [3D [K like, but clearly matters have moved on and we need to ensure that there is [2D [K is proper representation for rank and file. The judicial review, as well as [2D [K as the criminal investigation, means that there is a limit to what I can sa [2D [K say. I very much welcome this debate and the contributions to it. I thank t [1D [K the hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) for his kind remarks and I wil [3D [K will see the Superintendents' Association of Northern Ireland soon. My hon. [4D [K hon. Friend the Member for Dagenham and Rainham talked about what she and t [1D [K the police in her community need, and she said that she is supporting the c [1D [K campaign. The hon. Member for Eastleigh (Liz Jarvis) talked about the impor [5D [K importance of mental health. The Lib Dem spokesperson, the hon. Member for [K Chelmsford (Marie Goldman), talked about the challenges for women members o [1D [K of the fed in particular, which is something that is very live to me as wel [3D [K well. I have attended several meetings in which I have talked about the iss [3D [K issues that arise if a police officer is, for example, in a relationship wi [2D [K with another police officer and there is domestic abuse in that relationshi [11D [K relationship. What we do in that space is very difficult; there are lots of [2D [K of challenges there. I thank everybody who has attended this debate, includ [6D [K including the shadow Minister, for their thoughtful comments. I think that [K we all know that there is a problem and I recognise the frustration felt by [2D [K by my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle and Clitheroe, because he wants to [K see movement. We are looking at this issue very carefully. We are very mind [4D [K mindful of the arrests that have happened, very mindful that we have not se [2D [K seen the pace of change that we want, and very mindful of our legal obligat [7D [K obligation to make sure that the rank and file have representation.