Dear Editor,

tYour readers will, no doubt, be surprised at the new found enthusiasm by Kit Malthouse for our local schools and other education matters. This probably follows his undistinguished three weeks as Secretary of State for Education with the failed Liz Truss government.

By so doing he presumably hopes to avert our attention from his three years in the Johnson government when he had responsibility for policing as either Minister for Crime, Policing and the Fire Service or Minister of State for Crime and Policing at the Home Office. Having left the government front bench, now may be an appropriate time to review his tenure in these most responsible offices.

Some may find that it does not make very comfortable reading and commencing with our police forces the evidence of incompetence is damning. According to the most recent HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) report of the 23 forces recently assessed from the national total of 39; 3 were assessed as ‘inadequate’, 11 ‘required improvement’, eight were merely ‘adequate’ and only four classed as ‘good’. When it came to the specifics of police performance in certain areas, such as responding to the public in such areas as burglary and theft and domestic abuse, some people do not bother to even report a crime because all that the police do is issue them with a crime number.

Amongst five others, Wiltshire police force is in special measures and scandals at the Met appear to be a regular national issue. Surely Mr Malthouse bears some responsibility for allowing this situation to exist and even worsen under his tenure? This is failure of the highest magnitude.

Parents across the land should be grateful that Mr Malthouse’s tenure in the Dept of Education was so mercifully short.

R J Bryan Bishops Way Andover