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DM-16

Duty to cooperate with independent scrutiny bodies

Daniel Morgan Panel · The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel · Issued 15 June 2021 · Addressed to: Home Office

Government responseHome Office: Noted (Jun 2023)

DeliveryNo statement from Home Office found

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation, Volume 1

In the interest of transparency and public accountability, all public institutions should be under a duty to cooperate fully with independent scrutiny bodies created by Government, such as the Panel.

Daniel Morgan Panel, The Report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel · 15 Jun 2021 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Panel recommended placing all public institutions under a duty to cooperate with independent scrutiny bodies. In June 2023, the Home Office stated that it introduced a statutory duty of cooperation for serving police officers in February 2020, alongside measures for former officers, but it did not mention other public institutions (Home Office response, Jun 2023). In March 2022, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services found that a non-statutory inquiry could not demand access to material and systems in the same way (HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, Mar 2022). The record holds nothing dated later than the response of June 2023 (Home Office response, Jun 2023).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026.

About this summary
This recommendation asks for cultural or behavioural change, which is difficult to verify from published sources alone. The record above reflects policy commitments rather than measured outcomes.

Government response

●Home Office · Noted · 15 Jun 2023

Words of: Home Office, Government response to the report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel (CP 857), presented to Parliament by the Home Secretary, 15 June 2023

2.3.3. The Home Office introduced a statutory duty of cooperation in February 2020 for serving police officers as part of wider integrity reforms. Police officers now have a responsibility to give appropriate cooperation during investigations, inquiries and formal proceedings, participating openly and professionally in line with the expectations of a police officer when identified as a witness. A failure to cooperate is a breach of the statutory standards of professional behaviour, by which all officers must abide, and could therefore result in disciplinary sanctions. Since December 2017, provisions are in place for proceedings to be brought against former officers to increase public confidence in the accountability of those who committed serious wrongdoing when they were serving, and to ensure that such persons cannot evade being held accountable by the formal disciplinary processes by leaving the police.

Extract from: Government response to the report of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel

Delivery

No statement on delivery from Home Office has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.

What other bodies have found

In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.

●HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services · 22 Mar 2022

A non-statutory inquiry – such as the DMIP – could not demand access to material and systems in the same way.

From: An inspection of the Metropolitan Police Service's counter-corruption arrangements and other matters related to the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.