Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 100
100
Accepted
Paragraph: 621
Require NPCC's race inclusion plan to prioritise workforce, data, stop and search, and culture.
Recommendation
Based on the evidence we have received and the systemic problems we have identified, we recommend that in taking forward its Plan of Action on Inclusion and Race, the NPCC must focus on the following priorities: • Achieving a police workforce that is representative of the population by 2030, with specific objectives and plans at a force level to ensure recruitment in the current officer uplift and beyond is representative of the communities that individual forces serve (chapter four); • Gathering and publishing consistent and transparent data that allows the effects of police policies and use of powers to be properly scrutinised (chapters two, three, five, six and seven); • Reforming approaches taken to stop and search, including through improved training on conducting stop and searches, better understanding of ethnic disproportionalities and more effective review and community engagement on the use of stop and search (chapter six); • Independent monitoring and oversight at a national and community-level, combined with initiatives to rebuild confidence in police policies and use of police powers, and ensure new tools and technologies are not introduced before their likely impact has been properly examined (chapters six, seven and nine); • Maintaining an institutional focus on structural imbalances that lead to unequal outcomes for individuals of different ethnicities, including by the provision of training that goes beyond individual biases and focuses specifically on anti- racism and organisational culture (chapter nine) • An overriding commitment to the principle that disparities between different ethnic groups must be explained, or changes must be made to eliminate them (chapter nine).
Government Response Summary
The government states that police forces are striving for a representative workforce and details existing comprehensive programmes, such as the Police Uplift Programme and targeted national campaigns, which are already delivering on this ambition through attraction, recruitment, and data capture initiatives.
Paragraph Reference:
621
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Police forces should be striving to become more representative of the communities they serve. The policing sector recognises the long-standing challenge that recruiting a more diverse and representative police service presents and has made this ambition clear, including through the most senior board, the National Policing Board’s strategic policing priorities. The current unprecedented recruitment drive through the Police Uplift Programme (PUP) is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make progress on representation and we have ensured that there is now a comprehensive programme of work being delivered, working with all 43 forces. The Police Uplift Programme is supporting forces with a variety of attraction and recruitment strategies, whilst delivering a national campaign that has been designed to reach diverse audiences. Sharing best practice, engagement with police staff associations, upskilling recruitment teams and enhanced data capture are just some of the efforts being made to improve police diversity. The National Audit Office (NAO) recently published a Value for Money report on the Police Uplift Programme. We are pleased to see that that it recognises the programme is being managed well and is on course to deliver value for money, and the useful areas highlighted through the recommendations. Police forces must decide which tactical options to deploy based on their own barriers and solutions to meet diversity challenges, however the programme has significantly enhanced the support offered across five critical strands of activity—Access, Data, Attraction, Processes and Trust. Access: connecting the police to communities that feel distanced from policing or have never considered a career in policing. The Police Uplift Programme hosted a series of positive action events and webinars in January 2021, aimed at encouraging groups with particular protected characteristics to join by engaging with police staff associations and serving officers. It has also supported the development of a widening access course to enable those changing careers and those without formal qualifications to meet entry requirements for policing with a pre-application qualification. The campaign’s ‘joiningthepolice’ website promotes inclusivity in policing, with advice on the recruitment process and on positive action, and dedicated pages for national staff support associations representing different groups in policing. The Police Uplift Programme has also invested in these associations’ own online presences to ensure that they can maximise the opportunity to engage positively with those who visit their websites. Data: improving insight and understanding through data collection and analysis. The Police Uplift Programme has been clear that better data is needed to fully understand the barriers that exist, from attraction through to recruitment and retention. Thanks to the Police Uplift Programme, new and improved data is in place nationally to track progress and bring forces to account through the scrutiny processes, both at the National Policing Board and through PCCs and Chief Constables. The Police Uplift Programme has transformed the collection and understanding of national data on police recruitment. This has been fundamental in supporting process improvements, many of which have a clear goal of increasing representation; for example, ensuring vetting is not presenting a disproportionate barrier to some groups. The Home Office now publishes national recruitment data on a quarterly basis, and the Police Uplift Programme shares management information with forces monthly to enable the Programme and forces to understand pipelines and the success of attraction strategies. Better data has also enabled the Police Uplift Programme to support forces through the development of detailed data dashboards benchmarking progress against the proportion of the local community from an ethnic minority background. Allied to the Programme’s dedicated workstream, which uses subject matter experts from forces, this enables bespoke support to be provided where needed. Internal campaigns within policing also encourage more officers to declare their demographic details and further improve our understanding through better data. Exit interviews now include the collection of more detailed data on diversity, service profile, rank, diversity and reason for leaving, to help forces understand retention. Attraction: diversifying our reach to communities and supporting local activity. The national Police Uplift communications campaign targets underrepresented groups and features across a range of marketing channels to reach people from different backgrounds via multicultural marketing channels. Audience segmentation is being used to provide policing with a greater understanding of the barriers and motivations that exist for specific groups within the population, identifying where targeted communications can have the most impact to expand the pool of potential recru