Select Committee · Home Affairs Committee

The Macpherson Report: twenty-two years on

Status: Closed Opened: 5 Jun 2020 Closed: 31 Jan 2024 25 recommendations 77 conclusions 1 report

The Home Affairs Committee has confirmed its intention to complete its predecessors’ work on The Macpherson Report: twenty years on , and will take new evidence on policing and race including on concerns raised about the policing of the Covid-19 lockdown and reported disproportionality in fines and investigations of individuals from BME communities. In 2020 …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on HC 139 30 Jul 2021 102 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

9 items
45 Recommendation Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Progress addressing ethnic disparity in police misconduct requires consistent monitoring and a future audit.

We take some encouragement from the NPCC’s national review into ethnic disparity in police misconduct and the work done by some individual forces to attempt to close the gap. The follow-up work from this review which has been reported to us in 2021 shows that the NPCC has recognised and …

Government response. The government welcomes the new Race Action Plan (May 2022), which will ensure consistent publication of misconduct data broken down by ethnicity. The Home Office will also review the police misconduct system with NPCC and IOPC, with terms set in …
Home Office
46 Recommendation Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Professional Standards Departments lack BME representation and face institutional racism perceptions.

Police forces must act swiftly to address perceptions that Professional Standards Departments are marked by institutionally racist practices. In addition, forces must address unacceptable racial disproportionality in their composition: it is totally unacceptable that 63% of all Professional Standards Departments include no BME police officers at all. We welcome the …

Government response. The government welcomes the NPCC and College of Policing's new Race Action Plan, to be published in May 2022, which will address disproportionality in misconduct cases and ensure consistent data publication. The Home Office also commits to reviewing the police …
Home Office
57 Conclusion Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Gaps in police communication and de-escalation training hinder fair and effective stop and search.

We have heard about a number of important initiatives designed to improve the experience of stops, and particularly welcome those referred to in this report that have been introduced by both BME community leaders and police forces to foster more honest and transparent discussion about stop and search. However, there …

Government response. The government agrees on the importance of training and states that existing training and guidelines, including new conflict management guidelines, are already in place and part of the new curriculum. It further commits to supporting a review and delivery of …
Home Office
58 Conclusion Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Independent community oversight of stop and search is vital to earn public confidence.

We believe that the confidence of local communities will only be earned if there is proper, independent oversight of stop and search, by the community at a local level and, at a national level, by HMICFRS and the Home Office. All forces should ensure 186 The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years …

Government response. The government acknowledges that external reviews of body worn video with community panels are already happening in 'a number of forces' and commits to exploring how best to facilitate wider sharing of BWV footage with local scrutiny panels and sharing …
Home Office
60 Conclusion Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Metropolitan Police Gangs Violence Matrix lacks robust oversight for racial disproportionality.

The Metropolitan Police developed the Gangs Violence Matrix as a new way to provide intelligence to tackle serious gang related violence and crime in London, but without robust systems in place to consider racial disproportionality on the database, ensure proper oversight or sustain community confidence. As a result, considerable community …

Government response. The government commits to developing a national ethics framework for policing which will apply to new technologies and data processing, addressing the 'wider efforts' part of the recommendation. However, it does not explicitly refer to MOPAC's commitment regarding the Gangs …
Home Office
63 Conclusion Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Police body-worn cameras require consistent use and structured oversight to build confidence.

New technologies have the potential either to re-build community confidence and/ or to badly damage it, depending on the technology, on the way it is introduced and the nature of the oversight. The introduction of police body-worn cameras, if done properly, is a new technology that could help to rebuild …

Government response. The government highlights that updated guidance for BWV use, supervisory review, and sharing footage with scrutiny panels was issued in July 2020 and adopted by most forces. It also commits to exploring how best to facilitate sharing BWV footage with …
Home Office
70 Recommendation Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Include explicit anti-racism focus in police officer training, examining racial disparities and outcomes.

Training for officers in addressing racism and valuing cultural diversity remains as important now as it was when the Macpherson report recommended it twenty-two years ago. But we are concerned by the disproportionate reliance on unconscious bias training that was apparent in the evidence we received. We recommend that training …

Government response. The government commits to supporting the College and NPCC by autumn 2024 to review and improve police officer training in de-escalation and conflict management, and refers to the 'Race Action Plan' which includes measures to improve policing.
Home Office
71 Recommendation Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

Mandate comprehensive review and overhaul of police anti-racism training by College of Policing.

We would like to see consistency in the quality and content of training delivered at a local and service wide level. To this end we recommend a comprehensive review and overhaul of training on racism, diversity and equality, led by the College of Policing and assisted by the Home Office. …

Government response. The government commits to supporting the College and NPCC by autumn 2024 to review and improve police officer training in de-escalation and conflict management, and references the new 'Race Action Plan', but does not explicitly commit to a comprehensive overhaul …
Home Office
89 Conclusion Third Report - The Macpherson Report: T… Accepted in Part

College of Policing's anti-racism training and recommendations uptake inadequate

The College of Policing has an important role to play in providing training, guidance and standards for police forces to follow. Although it has developed training and guidance on stop and search, it has not played a strong enough role in ensuring that officer training is focused specifically on anti-racism …

Government response. The government supports the College of Policing's role in training and commits to supporting the College and NPCC by autumn 2024 to review and improve police officer training in areas like de-escalation skills and conflict management.
Home Office

Oral evidence sessions

2 sessions
Date Witnesses
22 Jul 2020 Bishop Derek Webley · Windrush Cross-Government Working Group, Inspector Dan Popple · West Midlands Police, Pastor Lorraine Jones · Dwayne Simpson Foundation CIC, PC Adam Ahmed, Sayce Holmes-Lewis · Mentivity View ↗
17 Jun 2020 Katrina Ffrench · StopWatch, Mirren Gidda · Liberty Investigates, Nick Glynn · Open Society Foundations, Professor Ben Bowling · Kings College London, Rosalind Comyn · Liberty View ↗

Correspondence

5 letters
DateDirectionTitle
1 Jul 2022 From cttee Letter to the Home Secretary on the Macpherson Report: 22 years on, dated 23 Ma…
27 Apr 2022 To cttee Letter from the Home Secretary on the Macpherson Report: 22 years on, dated 31 …
23 Mar 2022 To cttee Letter from the Minister for Equalities on the Government's response to the Com…
23 Mar 2022 To cttee Letter from the Home Secretary on the government response to the Macpherson Rep…
22 Jul 2020 To cttee Letter from the Director General of the Independent Office of Police Conduct on…