Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 6
6
Deferred
Paragraph: 54
Appoint an independent chair alongside the IOPC director general to restore checks and balances
Recommendation
It has been argued that uniting the roles of chair and director general of the IOPC aids clearer decision-making and action. We disagree. This is not normal practice and it detracts from the ability properly to scrutinise the executive action of the IOPC and to hold it to proper account. We recommend that the Government appoint an independent chair alongside the director general of the IOPC as a matter of urgency to restore the usual checks and balances.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government did not address the recommendation to appoint an independent chair alongside the IOPC director general. Instead, it discussed risks related to representation in Police Standards Departments and stated it would outline actions on ethnic minority staffing in PSDs in its response to the Macpherson report.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
54
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government · verbatim extract
Deferred
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) was launched following reforms to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) in 2018. The decision to combine the role of the Director General (DG) and Chair of the unitary board of the reformed organisation reflected the recommendation in the independent governance review conducted by Sheila Drew Smith in 20151. The aim of having a single role was to demonstrate the independence of decision-making to enhance public and police confidence, and to maintain a single line of decision making. This was the role to which Michael Lockwood was appointed in January 2018. Scrutiny of and support for the DG is provided by the unitary board, on which, the non-executive directors must be in a majority and there is a senior independent non-executive director. The Home Secretary announced last year that she was bringing forward the first periodic review of the IOPC. Such reviews of the Government’s arms’ length bodies typically consider the effectiveness of an organisation and its fitness for purpose. We agree that the existing governance structure, including this specific recommendation from the Committee, should be looked at as part of this review. We expect this to start early in 2022/23.
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