Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Conclusion 54
Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on
Published 30 Jul 2021
Paragraph 421
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)
We are very concerned about shortcomings in data collection and transparency with regard to stop and search powers. It is inexcusable that forces do not have proper monitoring and oversight systems in place. In particular, there is far too great a disparity in the detail and consistency by which the tactic is monitored and recorded across all forces. 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.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on (HC 139), paragraph 421, 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.