Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 5
Fifth Report - Policing priorities
Published 10 Nov 2023
Paragraph 18
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee Policing priorities All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Common standards for vetting should be enforced nationally, with sanctions upon non-compliant forces. We recommend the Government make vetting upon transfer a statutory requirement within the lifetime of the current Parliament. It should also ensure all forces immediately implement His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services’s recommendation on re-vetting officers of concern, including those who have been subject to a criminal investigation, received a formal warning or reduction in rank following a misconduct hearing, or where “adverse information” has otherwise come to the force’s notice. We recommend the Home Office monitor how local policing bodies are holding their chief constables accountable for implementing the recommendation, taking remedial action swiftly where accountability is found lacking or progress in implementation unsatisfactory. We invite the Home Office to report its progress on this in six months’ time: that report should include details of monitoring mechanisms and any remedial steps taken or planned.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Fifth Report - Policing priorities (HC 635), paragraph 18, 10 November 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 January 2024 (deadline 10 January 2024).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out its priorities as to "cut crime, improve trust and confidence in policing and deliver justice and high-quality outcomes for victims", and responds to the Committee's recommendations individually, supporting some, leaving others to the sector and declining some.
- On a further independent review of the Met, the government points to Baroness Casey's timetable of progress reviews after two years and five years, saying "We would support a commitment to that timetable from the Mayor".
- On vetting, it believes the framework "should remain with the College" of Policing rather than being made statutory on transfer, and says it is for PCCs how they hold Chief Constables to account.
- On time limits for misconduct cases, it argues that targets "could potentially create perverse incentives for investigators to rush", and instead points to the August 2023 reforms it considers "likely to improve timeliness and efficiency".
- On the Right Care, Right Person approach, it commits to a joint evaluation with DHSC, with findings feeding into a report "due to be completed in Spring 2024, which we intend to publish".