Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 55
55
Rejected
Paragraph: 422
Insufficient evidence on stop and search effectiveness undermines public confidence and policy decisions.
Conclusion
The lack of evidence available about the effectiveness of stop and search in reducing serious violence crime has contributed to scepticism about the basis for using the powers and therefore a lack of confidence in them. The Home Office should fill this evidential gap by commissioning a fully independent and comprehensive research study of stop and search tactics to better inform policy decisions at a central and local level. That study should necessarily focus on, but not be limited to, the effect of different stop and search powers on levels of crime; locality type (urban, rural); the type of stop deployed; the grounds and find rate. We advise that any such study should be longitudinal in design to allow researchers to map and identify trends over time with the expectation that they share regular updates in the interests of transparency and public scrutiny.
Government Response Summary
The government rejects commissioning a new independent and comprehensive research study, stating that it has already enhanced data collection and will focus on utilizing this data to drive action and transparency, as outlined in the Inclusive Britain report, before considering further research.
Paragraph Reference:
422
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
Government Response As outlined, there are immediate benefits of stop and search in tackling crime and keep people safe. The Office for National Statistics has also pointed to increased use of stop and search as a potential driver in the increase in recorded possession of weapons offences. In order to increase our understanding of stop and search we have improved our data collection and now collect and publish more data on this than ever before. We are continually looking to better understand the effectiveness of stop and search and share this publicly in the interests of transparency. On 18 November 2021, we published our regular annual statistical bulletin, Police Powers and Procedures: Stop and search and arrests, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2021. For the first time, we collected record-level information on stop and search, meaning a single stop and search can be followed through to the outcome. This publication included new data on both age and gender of those stopped alongside ethnicity, and we were able to display specifically where and when crimes take place. Using this new data, we can create a clearer picture on how stop and search is used and how best to build on the existing trust and confidence held between the police and the community they serve. We will continue to monitor and analyse these statistics at a national level. We expect forces to be able to explain their use of stop and search, including any disparities, to HMICFRS and the wider public, and we expect Police and Crime Commissioners to hold forces to account for their use of police powers and their wider response to HMICFRS recommendations. Inclusive Britain sets out our commitment to give greater clarity and context to stop and search data to reassure the public about its use moving forward. We will improve the way this data is reported and enable more accurate comparisons to be made between different police force areas. Given our enhanced data collection and actions outlined in Inclusive Britain, we believe that it is now important to focus on utilising data to drive action, encourage transparency and consider a range of metrics for stop and search rates in order to identify and where necessary, challenge disparities at a police force area level. It is therefore important that we allow these actions outlined in Inclusive Britain to be implemented before we consider further commissioning research which would risk being outdated and ultimately not significantly increasing our understanding of how powers are used.