MPs will delay the start of Question Time today to hold a debate on revelations police covered up for disgraced former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming, who pleaded guilty last week to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material.
The debate will commence after 2pm.
It follows suppression lifting on key details of how the police failed to investigate McSkimming, despite multiple complaints being made against him.
The police executive at the time, led by the then Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, tried to shape the resulting inquiry, hurrying it up so it would not reduce McSkimming’s chances of succeeding Coster as commissioner.
On Tuesday, ministers delivered damning verdicts on Coster’s leadership. Their comments cast doubt on the ability of Coster to stay on at his new role as chief executive of the Social Investment Agency.
Public Service Minister Judith Collins said: “If this was me being named in this report, I would be ashamed of myself. And I think that’s what I can say. I would be deeply ashamed.”
Police Minister Mark Mitchell, speaking at the same press conference, noted that the report was damning of the police executive that Coster led.
“He should be held to account for that, because of what we’re dealing with,” he said.
Coster’s responsible minister, Nicola Willis, said she was “shocked and appalled” by the report.
“I have conveyed my views to Public Service Commissioner [Sir] Brian Roche. The matter now sits with him as Mr Coster’s employer,” she said.
Coster is on leave from his role at the Social Investment Agency while Roche undertakes an employment process.
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