Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Conclusion 88
Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on
Published 30 Jul 2021
Paragraph 589
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 NPCC has a leadership function in policing, co-ordinating police forces at a national level. It is welcome that the NPCC has announced its intention to develop and implement a race equality action plan but it is deeply disappointing that this has since been delayed and that it is taking so long for forces to agree on much needed action. The capacity of the NPCC to act quickly and decisively is hindered by the difficulty of reaching agreement between 43 forces. We do not believe that 192 The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on the current structures will be sufficient to deliver change that is already twenty-two years overdue. The NPCC has also done important and welcome work in some of the individual areas we have considered in our report, such as on misconduct (see chapter five). Again, however, its impact has been limited where forces have been slow to address its recommendations.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on (HC 139), paragraph 589, 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.