Recommendation 8

HM Government Accepted

The Government agrees that further work needs to be done to encourage cultural change within policing. The Home Secretary has already established the independent Angiolini Inquiry. Part two of that inquiry is expected to focus on policing culture more broadly. The Home Secretary has also tasked the police inspectorate with examining issues of conduct and culture in policing. A cultural change in policing is supported by the wider sector—including staff associations. This includes the introduction of Reflective Practice in the 2020 integrity reforms, which encourages the movement away from a ‘blame culture’ within policing and enables wider focus on learning and reflection under local line management support. The Home Office is due to release its new experimental police misconduct statistics in May. The new statistics will offer the Home Office an opportunity to analyse the emphasis forces are putting on learning and reflection following the complaints and disciplinary reforms introduced in February 2020. They will also provide a more comprehensive look at the data on the end-to-end timeliness within the disciplinary system, an analysis which would be welcomed by the IOPC. The statistics will provide a tangible base to help push culture change in policing where needed. The Home Office acknowledges that, to succeed, this must be driven by senior leaders and staff associations. These statistics will include data on the use of reflective practice, and other learning outcomes by forces, since it was introduced in February 2020. Reflective practice supports a culture change in policing, moving away from a punitive process of handling complaints and conduct allegations, towards one where allegations which do not amount to serious misconduct are dealt with quickly and effectively by line managers. The process ensures that officers are truly reflective of their actions and ensures that there is an appropriate plan in place for them to learn and improve. This requires openness on the officer’s part and provides a more appropriate response to members of the public who have raised complaints with the police. The College of Policing is currently reviewing the Code of Ethics. The review work will produce a Code of Practice which will require Chief Officers to promote a culture of openness and accountability and to tackle individual and organisational defensiveness. It will require Chiefs to support and embed ethical decision making and encourage those working in policing to display the expected level of professional behaviour. The Code of Practice will also set out expectations of forces to have the skills and capacity to carry out effective and timely investigations, and to learn from mistakes. The Code of Ethics review will also support those working in policing to understand what professional behaviour looks like and the expectations placed upon them. This will be through developing a clear set of policing principles to provide a strong and ethical framework for professional decision making and guidance on professional behaviour. We expect to take forward further work in relation to police standards and culture following the conclusion of the Angiolini Inquiry.