New crime chief says GMP improvement must continue
GREATER Manchester’s new deputy mayor, who has responsibility over police, crime, the criminal justice system and the fire service has been appointed.
Outgoing Stretford and Urmston MP Kate Green will take over from Baroness Beverley Hughes when she steps down from the full-time role on January 9.
Councillors on the police, fire and crime panel approved the appointment at a meeting on Monday alongside a £5,000 increase to the salary.
The position will now pay £89,900 a year, bringing it in line with the salary of other police and crime commissioners who have responsibility for fire too.
Mayor Andy Burnham, who recommended the former Trafford MP, told the panel there is a ‘very small pool of people’ who meet the role’s requirements. The 62-year-old Labour ex-mp was the chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group before she entered parliament in 2010, taking Baroness Hughes’s seat.
Having held a number of shadow minister positions and sat on several select committees, she later served as shadow education secretary for 17 months. The former lay magistrate’s parliamentary experience includes membership of the Justice Select Committee, chairing the all-party group on women in the penal system and co-leading an inquiry into a police recruitment programme.
Earlier this year, she announced that she would not stand at the next general election and last month she formally resigned as MP, triggering a by-election.
Presenting her priorities to the panel, she said the progress that GMP has made since it was placed in special measures in late 2020 must continue.
Her first job will be to set the council tax precept that the police force - which was lifted out of special measures in October - and the fire service require. She agrees with the chief constable’s ‘back to basics’ approach, she told the panel, while highlighting some ‘bread and butter’ issues such as road safety.
Some people deserve ‘special protection’ from emergency services, she said, including young people who are commonly portrayed as perpetrators but are often victims themselves, and ethnic groups who ‘no doubt’ face disparities. She said: “That cannot be right and I know that you will share my outrage that that could be tolerated or allowed.”
The ex-charity boss also spoke of the importance of investing in community initiatives because ‘the poorest suffer the most’ and said that the fire service should focus on prevention, not just response, and prepare for climate change.
Baroness Hughes will step down from the role as deputy mayor on January 9, but will still work part time for the combined authority in a ‘support capacity.’ The cross-party panel unanimously accepted the appointment together with an increase in the salary for the position from £85,000 a year to £89,900.