BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Order. Order.

Hello, I'm Susan Hume and this is the Today in Parliament podcast for Thursday the 13th of November.

Coming up, a minister says it's time to get rid of police and crime commissioners.

We will make sure this doesn't just save money, that it doesn't just introduce a better

system, but that we are also making people safer in our communities.

Also, a government insulation scheme that left homes with dangerous defects.

It's surely absolutely negligence, isn't it, on behalf of the department?

This is unacceptable what has happened on this scheme.

And there were failures at every level of the system.

And plans to commemorate the COVID pandemic.

We will ensure that those we lost are honoured,

that we remember the sacrifices and the resilience of so many,

and that as a country we do not forget.

But first, the government's announced that police and crime commissioners in England and Wales are to be abolished.

The coalition government created the role with the first ones elected in 2012.

The intention was that the commissioners would help to connect local communities better with the police

and hold forces to account.

But in the Commons, the Home Office Minister Sarah Jones said reality had failed to live up to expectations.

Public understanding of an engagement with our police and crime commissioners remains low, despite efforts to raise their profile.

Less than a quarter of voters turned out to vote for them in the 2024 elections and two in five people are unaware PCCs even exist.

She said a survey showed that very few people could name their local police and crime commissioner or PCC, whereas most people knew who their elected mayor was.

...