Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 28
28
Deferred
Paragraph: 67
Appoint an independent chair for the IOPC to enhance scrutiny and accountability
Conclusion
In our previous report on Police conduct and complaints, we concluded that uniting the roles of chair and director general of the IOPC detracted from the ability to scrutinise the executive action of the IOPC and to hold it to account. Notwithstanding the findings of the forthcoming Review, we again recommend that the Government appoint an independent chair alongside the director general of the IOPC as a matter of urgency.
Government Response Summary
The government's response entirely deflects the recommendation by discussing the appropriateness of a 'firewall' for data sharing with Immigration Enforcement and existing NPCC guidance, instead of addressing the recommendation to appoint an independent chair for the IOPC.
Paragraph Reference:
67
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
67. Following a Review into data sharing arrangements between police and Immigration Enforcement, published in December 2021, it was concluded that a ‘firewall’ is not an appropriate solution. 68. A firewall would not prevent the perpetrator, or any anonymous third party, informing Immigration Enforcement about the victim’s immigration status. Stopping information sharing can impact law enforcement agencies’ ability to support victims and remove the perpetrator’s ability to control and manipulate victims because of their immigration status. 69. A firewall will not provide migrant victims of crime with assurances that no immigration enforcement action would be taken whilst reported crime was being investigated and whilst they were receiving support to seek to regularise their status. This assurance would be contained within the Migrant Victims Protocol. 70. The NPCC guidance ‘Information sharing with the Home Office where a victim or witness of crime is a suspected immigration offender’ already sets out under what circumstances police should share information with Immigration Enforcement and specifies that when someone reports a crime, the police must always, first and foremost, treat them as a victim, and that police must never check a database solely to establish a victim’s immigration status. 71. The NPCC guidance also sets out that when an individual reports as a victim of crime, the focus should always be to investigate the allegation and put in place reasonable measures to protect the victim from harm. It refers officers to the College of Policing’s guidance on initiating support and protection for victims of domestic abuse within the Major Investigations and Public Protection Authorised Professional Practice which guides officers to measures to protect the victim and signpost to local support services.