Parliamentary
The Parliamentary business area works on behalf of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) to engage with parliamentarians at Westminster and Cardiff to further the objectives of the organisation on behalf of our members.
The committee meets quarterly under the chairmanship of the national deputy chair and co-lead and is attended by chairs and representatives from each of the eight regions. Those on the committee are supported by their regional National Board members.
We are assisted in our work by the London-based public affairs company Cicero/AMO, who facilitate introductions and engagement meetings with MPs and our representatives, parliamentary events and monitor how PFEW is regarded by MPs and external political stakeholders.
As part of our #573 campaign, we are continually arranging round table events with branch board chairs and their relevant MPs and Ministers. These events are routinely held at Portcullis House, thus giving the chairs the opportunity to talk about local and national issues that are directly affecting our members.
The group seeks to influence legislative and policy changes that support the strategic aims and objectives of PFEW 2025; for example, the Protect the Protectors campaign which led to assaults against emergency services workers becoming an aggravated offence.
The committee also lead on the changes to the Emergency Response Drivers legislation. Though the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which was enshrined in law last year, police drivers have greater legal protection thanks to years of campaigning by PFEW.
It was also successful in getting the Police Covenant laid in Parliament.
This commitment by government was introduced over 12 months now and we are hopeful this will deliver what it set out to do, but we will keep challenging to make sure this does not contain business as usual - it must go above and beyond.
Among our current priorities for 2025 is the success of our campaigns including:
- Pay Campaign – Fair pay and fair process of police pay
- #573 – To meet and engage with all 573 MPs within England and Wales
- DG6 – Changes to the Data Protection laws to ease the burden on disclosure
- Medals for Heroes – To posthumously award police officers killed in the line of duty
- #Timelimits – Introduction of a 12-month review of all conduct investigations to speed up the lengthy timescales
On December 7 2022, PFEW successfully held its largest parliamentary engagement event in recent years, speaking directly to more than 50 MPs to rally support for its core campaigns. We will continue to engage with all the politicians across England and Wales to highlight and champion for better pay and conditions for our officers.
