Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Conclusion 22
Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on
Published 30 Jul 2021
Paragraph 121
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee The Macpherson Report: twenty-two years on All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The increased support for all victims of crime and the work of Family Liaison Officers as a result of the Macpherson report are important wider legacies of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. However, we are extremely concerned that, twenty- two years on from the publication of the Macpherson report, some Black men and women still report that they feel they have been treated as suspects not victims and that this reduces the likelihood of them reporting crime to the police in future. The police response to a victim of crime must never be influenced by assumptions based on their ethnicity, or racial stereotyping. The Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council must work with the Victims Commissioner to commission research into the experience of BME victims of crime and they must set out a specific plan of action to ensure there is proper support for BME victims of crime.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on (HC 139), paragraph 121, 30 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 26 May 2022 (deadline 30 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's work and acknowledges that "there is more to be done" on trust and confidence in policing, while declining to set recruitment targets or establish a new Race Equality Commissioner.
- On recruitment, the Government does not agree that setting diversity recruitment targets "is the right lever", citing differing local populations, and says it believes the existing framework is "the most effective way" of driving change.
- On proposed changes to the Equality Act 2010, Ministers say "more evidence" of the benefit of the Metropolitan Police proposals would be required before a proposal to make temporary amendments "would be considered".
- On stop and search, it commits to a new framework for scrutinising use of police powers "by summer 2023". On the Committee's call for a new independent study, it says it wishes to allow Inclusive Britain actions to be implemented "before we consider further commissioning research".
- It does not consider a new Race Equality Commissioner for policing "necessary", pointing to existing oversight through the National Policing Board, HMICFRS and Police and Crime Commissioners.