Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Conclusion 94
Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on
Published 30 Jul 2021
Paragraph 615
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)
Since the Stephen Lawrence Steering Group was disbanded in 2005, there has been no national focus on achieving the aims of the Macpherson report to eliminate “racist prejudice and disadvantage and the demonstration of fairness in all aspects of policing”. The various national policing bodies have not done this, nor has the Home Office. The EHRC is not equipped to monitor progress in policing regularly. Since the Commission for Racial Equality was folded into the EHRC, there has also been no separate independent national body with an explicit focus on race equality. The attempts by the NPCC to show national leadership in drawing up a national action plan are welcome but the delays in getting agreement with police forces show its limitations. We recognise the NPCC’s intention to establish an oversight board with an independent Chair. However the Chair is only expected to work for a few days each year and it does not appear that the Board will have the resources, analytical capacity or clout that we believe are needed.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on (HC 139), paragraph 615, 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.