Parliamentary activity

Answering body: Home Office

On 7 February 2023 the Government published the Terms of Reference for Part 3 of the Angiolini Inquiry.

Part 3 of the Inquiry was commissioned to examine the career and conduct of former Metropolitan Police Officer David Carrick, following his conviction for multiple sexual offences in January 2023. He was subsequently convicted of further sexual offences in November 2025.

Following a request from the Chair of the Inquiry, Lady Elish Angiolini, the Home Secretary has agreed to make some amendments to the Terms of Reference for Part 3. The result of these amendments is that the Inquiry will now be able to consider evidence related to allegations of criminal behaviour prior to and during David Carrick’s policing career. The amendments also make explicit reference to psychological and/or psychiatric reports written about David Carrick as material which the Inquiry may consider.

The Chair’s intention with these amendments is to better understand the potential drivers and motivation for Carrick’s offending, with a view to assisting police forces in understanding how to better identify and disrupt perpetrators of these horrific crimes during the recruitment and vetting stages and ensure those unfit to serve have no place in policing.

The Angiolini Inquiry was launched in January 2022 following the horrific murder of Sarah Everard by a then-serving Metropolitan Police officer; the report for Part 1 was published on 29 February 2024. Part 2 of the Inquiry, examining broader issues in policing such as vetting, recruitment, and culture, commenced on 11 May 2023 and is currently ongoing, with a report on the prevention of sexually motivated crimes against women in public published on 2 December 2025.

A copy of the amended Terms of Reference for Part 3 of the Inquiry will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Answering body: Home Office

I will be updating the House about this report via an oral statement later today.

Answering body: Home Office

On 29 February 2024, a report on Part 1 of the independent Angiolini Inquiry was published. The Inquiry was established following the horrific murder of Sarah Everard in March 2021 by then-serving Metropolitan Police Service officer Wayne Couzens.

On the same day, I gave a statement to the House to acknowledge the Inquiry’s findings.

Part 1 examined the previous career and conduct of Couzens and found a number of red flags and missed opportunities. Based on these findings, the Chair made a total of 16 recommendations, summarily to improve the policing response to sexual offences, such as indecent exposure, to strengthen police recruitment and vetting practices, and to address toxic police cultures.

Today I can confirm acceptance of all three of the recommendations made to the Government, which the Home Office will now work to deliver at pace. These recommendations are that the Home Office, in collaboration with partners, should conduct a fundamental review of the way masturbatory indecent exposure is treated within the criminal justice system; commission research to establish if there is an evidence-based link between masturbatory indecent exposure and subsequent offending; and launch a campaign to raise awareness that indecent exposure and sending unsolicited photographs of genitals amounts to criminality and boost victims’ confidence to report such crimes.

Further recommendations on police vetting, recruitment and culture were made directly to police forces, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing, who have also today accepted all recommendations made to policing. I will work closely with policing to ensure that they drive this work forward promptly.

Tackling violence against women and girls is one of my top priorities. I am confident that our strong partnership and shared commitment with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and College of Policing will lead to concerted, swift action.

I will provide a further update to Parliament on progress made in implementing the recommendations before Summer recess.

I am grateful to Lady Elish and her team for their crucial and continued work, which will ensure that policing continues to make improvements necessary to rebuild the confidence of everyone they serve. I await the Inquiry’s further findings from Part 2, which is examining broader national issues such as vetting, recruitment and culture, as well as the safety of women in public spaces.

Answering body: Home Office

Recent reports from His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and significant high-profile incidents of police criminality and misconduct, such as the horrific crimes of David Carrick, have rightly raised concerns regarding police standards and culture.

In January, the Home Secretary announced a series of actions being undertaken by the Home Office and the police to ensure that police vetting is fit for purpose, that officers who fall short of the standards expected of them are identified and dealt with appropriately, and that concerns around policing cultures are being addressed to rebuild public confidence.

On Monday 27 February I convened a roundtable with senior leaders from across the policing sector to review progress on these commitments and to ensure that activity is being co-ordinated to drive up police standards and improve culture.

In relation to police vetting, the Home Secretary has commissioned His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Fire & Rescue Services to undertake a rapid review of progress being made against the 43 recommendations in their 2 November 2022 assessment of police vetting and counter-corruption capability. The National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) are co-ordinating the forces’ responses to the Inspectorate’s report and, at the roundtable, reported significant progress in implementing a suite of changes to ensure that police vetting is more robust and consistent. HMICFRS will publish its rapid review in April.

In addition, the Home Secretary asked the College of Policing to refresh its statutory vetting code of practice to strengthen legal obligations on Chief Officers and provide clarity to forces across England and Wales. The College has published the revised statutory code yesterday for a three-week public consultation (available on the College of Policing’s website). Following consideration of that feedback and Home Secretary approval, the revised Code will be in force by the summer. I also welcome the work being undertaken by the College of Policing to overhaul the police Code of Ethics which is expected to be published for public consultation next month.

Across police forces, significant activity is underway to identify individuals who fall short of the high standards the public expect of them and to deal with those individuals appropriately. This includes the work being co-ordinated by the NPCC, under the leadership of Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, to check all police officers and staff against the Police National Database (PND) to ensure that no actionable intelligence in relation to potential police misconduct or criminality has been missed.

As of this date, all force HR records have been prepared for the datawash which will conclude by the end of March, cross-checking over 326,000 officers and staff against relevant PND records. Forces will then interrogate this data and take action to investigate where necessary.

Where officers are found to have potentially breached standards of professional behaviour, it is of vital importance that those who are not fit to serve the public are swiftly dismissed. On 18 January, the Home Office launched a review of the effectiveness of the police dismissal process to determine how improvements can be made. The call for evidence has now ended and the Home Office have received submissions from a wide range of stakeholders. These will now be analysed, with the output from a new data collection, to inform proposals for change. This work will be complete by the end of April and the Government is committed to implementing reforms, including via legislation, as soon as practicable thereafter.

Alongside this, it is essential for public confidence in policing that we have an effective independent process for investigating the most serious complaints about the police. That is why, I am announcing today the start of an independent review of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) led by Dr. Gillian Fairfield (Chair of the Disclosure and Barring Service), whom the Home Secretary has charged with considering the IOPC’s effectiveness, efficiency, governance and accountability. The review’s remit is tightly defined to avoid infringing upon or impacting ongoing investigations, which are rightly independent from government, the police and complainants. A summary of the review’s terms of reference will be published on GOV.UK and a copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Dr Fairfield has been asked to submit her final report and recommendations for internal review in Autumn 2023. I shall inform the House of the outcome of the Review at its conclusion and a summary of its key findings will subsequently be published.

As well as driving up standards in police vetting and dealing with misconduct, the Home Secretary has been clear that policing needs to address the root causes of poor, and in some cases toxic, cultures. This will be a key focus of Part 2 of the independent Angiolini Inquiry that was established in the wake of the murder of Sarah Everard to understand how a serving police officer was able to carry out such a horrendous crime. Part 2, which will look at broader issues for policing, will start later this spring, following a public consultation on the Terms of Reference that ended last week. The Inquiry will also look at the appalling case of David Carrick, in terms of reference published on 7 February 2023.

The Government and our policing partners are determined to deliver on these commitments to help rebuild confidence and trust in policing. This is what the public expect and the decent, hard-working majority of officers deserve. I will update the National Policing Board, chaired by the Home Secretary, on the 8 March on progress and provide the House with updates in due course.

Answering body: Home Office

I today lay before the House of Commons a Departmental Minute giving notice of a contingent liability for the issuing of an indemnity with respect to the work of the Angiolini Inquiry.

The proposed indemnity will cover Dame Elish Angiolini as Chair of the Angiolini Inquiry, current and former members of the Angiolini Inquiry and any individual engaged at any time to aid the Inquiry, against any legal costs, personal civil liability, actions, or damages related to the execution of their duties, or for any act done or omission made in good faith in the execution of their duties, including in relation to any Inquiry report/s or other published document/s.

This indemnity applies only to acts done or omissions made honestly and in good faith during the course of the Inquiry, from its establishment on 31 January 2022 until the final reports are published by the Home Secretary and all of the closure work of the Inquiry is concluded. The indemnity excludes personal criminal liability, negligence or reckless acts.

The indemnity is subject to the proviso that any liability which is to any extent met by insurers on the beneficiary of this indemnity, or for which reimbursement is made to any extent by such insurers, shall in that event and to that extent no longer be the subject of the indemnity and (if previously met or reimbursed by the Government) shall to that extent be refunded by the beneficiary to the Government.

Her Majesty’s Treasury has approved the contingent liability in principle. The National Audit Office has been consulted on the proposal.

Answering body: Home Office

Today I am updating Parliament on Home Office delivery since my statement of 16 December 2021. The Department is committed to delivering better outcomes for the public and will continue to work to deliver a safer, fairer and more prosperous United Kingdom.

The Home Office’s humanitarian response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and our delivery of robust Economic Crime measures

I am working with the Ukrainian Government and international partners to hold Putin to account and support the brave people of Ukraine.

The Government launched two humanitarian schemes to provide a safe route for Ukrainians who want to come to the UK, quickly standing up the Ukraine Family Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme. We streamlined the process to allow Ukrainians with valid passports to apply purely online and continue to work with partners to ensure that Ukrainians arriving here can access the right support.

The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act provides greater powers to sanction oligarchs and businesses associated with the Russian Government. The Government has brought forth an additional 428 sanction designations since Royal Assent on 15 March. The legislation also introduces a new Register of Overseas Entities, requiring those behind foreign companies which own UK property to reveal their identities, and strengthens the Unexplained Wealth Orders regime.

The Oligarch Taskforce is helping build cases against its list of oligarchs. Internationally, we are clamping down on sanctions evasion across jurisdictions through the Russian Elites, Proxies and Oligarchs international taskforce. The National Crime Agency’s ‘Combating Kleptocracy Unit’ is providing operational capability to target corrupt elites as well as the professional enablers of these corrupt elites and support criminal cross-HMG sanctions delivery and enforcement.

Reducing Crime

We are focused on delivering our Beating Crime Plan, making Britain safer with less crime, fewer victims and safer streets.

As of 31 December 2021, we have recruited over 11,000 police officers, against our target of 20,000 by March 2023.

Our work on serious violence has provided services to those communities most affected. We launched round four of the Safer Streets Fund which directs funding to projects tackling acquisitive crime, anti-social behaviour and violence against women and girls. We’re making progress on our work to tackle violence against women and girls; we’ve published our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy, published the first ever stand-alone Domestic Abuse Plan and launched the “Enough” communications campaign which highlights the action people can take to safely challenge violence against women and girls.

The Angiolini Inquiry, set up to better understand how a serving police officer was able to abduct, rape and murder Sarah Everard and ensure that lessons for policing are identified and learned, started work in January 2022. The independent inquiry to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess was formally established on 17 March 2022.

Reducing the risk from terrorism to the UK & UK interests overseas, securing a safe and prosperous UK

In February, the threat to the UK from terrorism was reduced to substantial down from severe. Whilst positive, the security landscape remains complex, volatile and unpredictable as the attack outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital and the killing of Sir David Amess sadly reminds us. The Home Office continues in its efforts, working with operational partners, to build improvements into the UK’s counter-terrorism response.

Enabling the legitimate movement of people and goods to support economic prosperity

Since launching the points-based immigration system, we have continued to attract worldwide talent and skills whilst encouraging business to invest in British people. Latest statistics show the number of visas issued across work and study routes is now exceeding pre-pandemic levels (677,000 in 2021).

We will in the coming period implement the Plan for Growth measures, including the launch of the new Global Business Mobility routes, High Potential Individual route and Scale-up route, which support inward trade and investment and provide UK businesses access to a more flexible pool of highly-skilled workers.

Alongside new routes, we expanded capability for a fully digital application process in December 2021, improving our ability to re-use and re-check biometrics, allowing more people to benefit from a fully digital journey.

We have supported the care sector to boost their workforce by expanding eligibility for the Health and Social Care Visa to include health care assistants.

I announced a joint National Crime Agency and leading social media companies Action Plan to foster greater collaboration against crime groups that use online platforms to advertise illegal migration services; relevant illegal online content is already being removed.

Tackling illegal migration, removing those with no right to be here, and protecting the vulnerable

The Home Office is working to deliver a fair but firm system to ensure that we can better support those in genuine need of asylum, deter illegal migration, break the business model of criminal smuggling networks and remove from the UK those with no right to be here.

Last year, I launched and consulted on my New Plan for Immigration and introduced the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is advancing through Parliament on its path to Royal Assent.

The Bill will reset the legislative framework to meet objectives including the reduction of small boat crossings and deterring illegal entry into the UK. It incorporates tougher criminal offences for those attempting to enter the UK illegally by introducing a suite of asylum reforms and expedited processes to allow rapid removal of those with no right to be here.

We have worked with France to dismantle 21 small boat organised criminal groups and secured over 500 arrests. Our joint activity with France prevented more than 23,000 crossings in 2021. Over 4,500 crossings have already been prevented in 2022, nearly three times the number to this point in 2021.

I signed landmark agreements with Serbia and Albania to return those nationals who have no legal right to be in the UK.

Our new and bespoke Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) opened on 6 January. This is one of the most ambitious resettlement schemes in British history. The first people to be resettled under the scheme included some of the c.15,000 people who arrived in the UK under Operation Pitting – the largest humanitarian aid operation since the Second World War – which prioritised those at particular risk, including women’s rights activists, prosecutors, and journalists.

Windrush

Our commitment to righting the wrongs done to the Windrush Generation has not faltered. The Windrush Lessons Learned Review – Progress Update was published today. There is still more to do, but I am proud of our achievements and will ensure we can make the Home Office an even better place, serving the public with compassion, respect, collaboration and courage at the heart of everything it does.