The head of the Metropolitan police has called for a crèche at every main
police station in London to help staff with childcare and recruit more women.
Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens told a conference for senior female
officers the Met had ‘taken its eye off the ball’ over female recruitment in
the drive for ethnic minority candidates.
Only around 17 per cent of the Met’s officers are female. He said this was
not good enough, and should be more like 30 per cent.
To help tackle gender diversity, he announced that a new crèche would be
opened for recruits at Hendon police training college within four to five
months.
A review of the force’s flexible working policy will be published later this
year, with the emphasis on better management of long or unsociable hours.
The Met is set to launch a childcare voucher scheme in April for staff
earning less than £30,000.
