Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 7
7
Deferred
Paragraph: 23
Amend College of Policing leadership standards to mandate supporting whistleblowers and reporting misconduct
Recommendation
The College of Policing’s standards for leaders must, at every level of leadership, include the responsibility to support team members who call out inappropriate behaviour, along with the duty to do so oneself. We recommend the standards are amended accordingly. We invite the College of Policing to write to us on progress towards standards revision and the impact of changes in six months’ time.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government refers to a dismissals review that led to announced reforms for misconduct, vetting, and performance systems, and highlights the existing police Barred List, rather than directly addressing the College of Policing's standards for leaders.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
23
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
11. Wellbeing and onboarding surveys consistently demonstrate that quality of supervision and line management is the biggest factor in retention and wellbeing. CoP have rolled out new national leadership standards and accompanying development programmes for every rank to improve leadership skills as well as line management essentials. This includes a focus on front line leadership, with targeted programmes for Sergeant/Inspector ranks. These new standards will be embedded in the system in the coming years through staged planned reform of promotions, progression and talent management. 12. The new Code of Ethics, which will be published in full shortly (the Code of Practice for Ethical Policing was published on 6 December, the remaining components—ethical policing principles and guidance for ethical and professional behaviour—are expected in early 2024), will guide everyone in policing in making decisions ethically. The Code will state that chief officers should ‘ensure that whistle-blowers feel able to report concerns and are listened to, are given appropriate protections and are aware of the various internal and external routes’, and ‘develop culture where staff feel empowered to encouraged to challenge of report behaviour, performance or service delivery that falls below expectations’ 13. Police forces should have measures in place to allow police officers and staff to come forward to report wrongdoing by colleagues in confidence if necessary. These issues have formed part of HMICFRS inspections in the past. In addition, the IOPC has as confidential reporting line for officers and staff to report wrongdoing by their policing colleagues. The IOPC ‘s effectiveness has been reviewed as part of the Cabinet Office’s public bodies review programme by Dr Gillian Fairfield, the independent reviewer. The Fairfield report is being considered by Home Office Ministers, who expect to publish its findings in 2024 The Angiolini review is also expected to consider the effectiveness of police whistleblowing processes.
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