To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he expects the recommendation in his White Paper that civilian staff employed for police purposes should be employed by the chief constable to work in practice.

It is too early to say how the detailed arrangements for the employment of civilian staff in the police service will be managed. Civilian staff have an increasingly important part to play in the provision of a good quality police service. It therefore seems appropriate, and in the interests of all those working in the police service, that the civilian staff should be directly employed by the chief constable.