Select committee: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee
Recommendation 11
1st Report - Policing and security in Northern Ireland
Published 27 May 2026
Addressed to Northern Ireland Executive; Northern Ireland Office
Northern Ireland Affairs Committee Policing and security in Northern Ireland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We recommend that one of the few unimplemented reforms suggested by Patten, namely a pilot cadet-type scheme between the police and young people, be reconsidered by the PSNI. We recommend also that the PSNI commission fresh research into the barriers to applications to the service from underrepresented groups. In addition, it should produce and publish an Action Plan, informed by this research, containing the key steps it will take to increase recruitment and applications from Catholic, ethnic minority and working-class communities. This should be completed, if possible, in time for the next officer recruitment campaign. (Recommendation, Paragraph 45)
From: Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, 1st Report - Policing and security in Northern Ireland (HC 184), 27 May 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 3 September 2026 (deadline 27 July 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out its position on each recommendation, stating that responsibility for a number of them rests with the PSNI, the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Northern Ireland Executive because policing and justice are devolved.
- On the open book exercise, the government says it published the Open Book Review of the Northern Ireland Executive's Budget on 1 June 2026.
- On a ringfenced legacy funding stream, the government points to existing legacy funding and says it is for the Executive to consider how to support those organisations and mechanisms through funding allocations.
- On officer numbers and recruitment, it says these are matters for the Executive, Policing Board and PSNI, and that it "welcomes any rigorous independent analysis" to assist the Executive.
- On publishing asylum application figures for Northern Ireland, the government "notes" the recommendation and says it will form part of the Home Office's "ongoing assessment of user need".