The Government are committed to providing the police with the resources to enable them to combat and prevent crime, but the police cannot do it all on their own. They need the support, and in some cases the assistance, of the communities they serve. Equally, those men and women who give up their spare time to assist the police should have some protection against accident or injury. The Bill comes before your Lordships at a very opportune time. In recent weeks there have been reports in police journals and in regional television in the north of England about the need for the police to provide personal accident insurance cover for mountain rescue teams who are called out by the police.
Winter is of course the time of year when the work of the mountain rescue teams comes to the fore.
It is therefore most appropriate that the question of personal accident insurance for these teams of volunteers who help the police has come before the House at this time. My noble friend has described very eloquently why this Bill is needed. It was unfortunate that the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 overlooked the need to provide the new free standing police authorities with the power to hold personal accident insurance for voluntary assistants. It will not come as a surprise to your Lordships that when Parliament considers major new legislation some minor oversights occur. The police do an excellent job in tackling crime and creating safer towns and cities.