Select committee: Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 16
Sixth Report - Police Conduct and Complaints
Published 1 Mar 2022
Paragraph 98
Addressed to Home Office
Home Affairs Committee Police conduct and complaints All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
There is a clear absence of urgency and a culture of non-co-operation from some police forces involved in investigations. Appropriate sanctions must follow for any officer served with disciplinary proceedings, whether serving or retired. We welcome the legislation that exists to ensure delays to investigations are minimised. Specific reforms were made to the discipline system under the implementation of the 2020 reforms including the possibility for former officers to face disciplinary proceedings if allegations come to light within 12 months of their leaving the force. In addition, the IOPC has new powers to determine that disciplinary processes may be initiated against officers who have been out of service for longer than 12 months.
From: Home Affairs Committee, Sixth Report - Police Conduct and Complaints (HC 140), paragraph 98, 1 March 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 28 April 2022 (deadline 1 May 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's recognition of progress and agrees that improving the police complaints and discipline systems is ongoing, but it declines the Committee's call for an early assessment of PCC involvement and says it will look at the IOPC's governance as part of a periodic review.
- On appointing an independent IOPC chair, the Government does not commit to the change. It agrees the governance structure "should be looked at" in the first periodic review of the IOPC, which it expects "to start early in 2022/23".
- On an early assessment of PCC involvement in complaints, it says "we cannot now agree" because the PCC review concluded before the report. It will "in due course" assess the impact of the February 2020 complaints reforms.
- On bi-annual monitoring of how local policing bodies hold forces to account for implementing IOPC recommendations, and on joined-up reporting of IOPC, HMICFRS and Coroners' recommendations, it says it "will consider" with the IOPC how to go further.
- It commits to update the police super-complaints website to say designated bodies should collaborate with non-designated organisations. It says it will respond to the Macpherson report in May.