Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Not Addressed
Paragraph: 71
Increasing Black community trust in policing not considered a Ministerial or policing priority
Conclusion
The Macpherson report in its first recommendation called for a Ministerial Priority for all police services to “increase trust and confidence in policing amongst minority ethnic communities”. For the Macpherson report, the setting of a “Ministerial Priority” had a particular meaning as part of the formal relationship between the Home Office and the police, as well as indicating the importance and value that Ministers and the police should attach to the issue. Those formal arrangements changed in the early noughties, but the broader spirit of that first recommendation is as important today as it was then and in 2021 currently it is not being met. The significant decrease in confidence among some Black and minority ethnic populations in the past year, the consistent reporting of lower levels of Black and Mixed ethnicity confidence in the police compared to White individuals and the widening of the gap, combined with the failure of successive governments to require data on confidence to be collected at a local force level by ethnicity, shows that increasing trust and confidence in policing in the Black community is not being treated as a policing priority or as a Ministerial priority today.
Government Response Summary
The government provides statistics on ethnic minority representation in Professional Standards Departments and states the NPCC is working to improve this, but the response does not address the committee's central point about the failure to treat increasing trust and confidence as a Ministerial priority or the lack of local confidence data collection.
Paragraph Reference:
71
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
As at 31 March 2021, 67.5% of forces had some ethnic minority representation within their PSDs. As at 31 March 2021, there were 113 full time equivalent police officers working under the Professional Standards subfunction who identified as a minority ethnicity, an increase on 80 recorded in 2020. The Home Office and the NPCC do, however, recognise the risk of a lack of appropriate representation within a number of PSDs and we must not be complacent. Whilst this is not an issue unique to PSDs, the role these departments play in instilling public and staff confidence, changing the culture and maintaining standards across forces means that it is crucial that they work to be truly representative of the workforce. The NPCC are currently working across policing to ensure there is appropriate representation and involvement of ethnic minority officers in the decision-making process in the Professional Standards Departments. The Government, and policing partners are encouraged that, from the latest national police workforce data, ethnic minority representation in PSDs has risen by 2 percentage points (rising to 9.8%) since 2020 and PSDs have a greater level of representation when compared against other measured policing disciplines. The NPCC Complaints and Misconduct portfolio will review the latest workforce data at an individual force level and use the regional and national working group framework to encourage progress in forces where there is a poor level of ethnic minority representation in the PSD workforce. Stop and search Replied together The Home Office, NPCC and APCC need to agree a clear action plan endorsed by the National Policing Board to ensure that all forces are following the HMICFRS recommendations [aimed at improving how stop and search is used]. We fully concur with the recent HMICFRS recommendation that, by December 2021, the Home Office should agree, nationally, a minimum standard for monitoring stop and search powers. This should include the recording and monitoring of the ethnicity of those who are subject to road traffic stops, as first recommended by Macpherson and his advisers over twenty-two years ago. Too many forces are unable to explain the levels of racial disparities in their area and are still not engaging in serious attempts to monitor and explain or to change their approach. All forces must ensure they now do so in line with the HMICFRS recommendations.