The Liberal Democrat MP and Home Office minister Lynne Featherstone, pictured, has many and varied hats to wear at the Home Office besides the SIA, including same-sex marriage and women’s rights. While there are more women than people in the private security industry, a report by MPs has queried how much time she devotes to private security. Certainly she has not shown her face at many industry events, a Security Institute conference being an exception.
When questioned by the Commons Home Affairs Committee, the chair Keith Vaz raised the Serious and Organised Crime Agency’s intelligence report – the committee had a copy from SOCA – titled Private Investigators: The Rogue Element of the Private Investigation Industry and Others Unlawfully Trading in Personal Data. Featherstone said she had not seen the report; Vaz found it odd she had not read it; and said he would send her a copy; and (twisting the knife?) suggested he would ask SOCA to send her a copy. The committee report added that the report is on the SOCA website and was ‘very surprised’ Featherstone had not read it.
