Improve conditions for female officers
Angiolini Inquiry · Angiolini Inquiry Part 1 Report · Issued 29 February 2024 · Addressed to: College of Policing
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, Recommendation 16
By September 2024, the College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs' Council should review and examine the conditions of female officers and staff in order to encourage more women to join the police and progress in policing careers. To ensure success, this should include a review of: a. working conditions that do not address the realities of modern working lives, including families where both parents are officers and share caring responsibilities; b. processes, training and refreshers for officers returning from parental leave; and c. kit, equipment and facilities designed largely by and for men.
Angiolini Inquiry, Angiolini Inquiry Part 1 Report · 29 Feb 2024 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- The recommendation set a deadline of September 2024 for reviewing conditions for female officers and staff.
- The Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 report, published 2 December 2025, stated the September 2024 deadline "was not achievable" (Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 First Report, December 2025).
- An NPCC lead for this work was not appointed until June 2024, and progress varies across forces with no single repository of best practice (Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 First Report, December 2025).
- A national survey on kit and equipment identified trousers as a significant issue for female officers, and a rewritten Family Friendly Policy is guidance only, raising concerns about implementation across all forces (Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 First Report, December 2025).
Response — verbatim from government
●Home Office — initial response
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "The act of pure evil committed against Sarah shocked the nation to its core. My heart goes out to Sarah's family and to all the brave victims who came forward to help inform this report and drive change. The man who committed these crimes is not a reflection on the majority of dedicated police officers working day in, day out to help people. But Sarah was failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe, and it laid bare wider issues in policing and society that need to be urgently fixed. In the 3 years since, a root and stem clean-up of the policing workforce has been underway and we have made huge strides – as well as making tackling violence against women and girls a national policing priority to be treated on par with terrorism. But we will continue to do everything in our power to protect women and girls. I am grateful to Lady Elish for her meticulous investigation. Her insights will be invaluable as we move forward in supporting our police to build forces of the highest standards of integrity and regain the trust of the British public."
Home Office · 29 Feb 2024 Written response →
●College of Policing — follow-up
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing has at the same time committed to addressing the remaining recommendations in Lady Angiolini's report concerning police culture and increasing the robustness of police vetting. The government will follow up with further detail on how the recommendations will be delivered in partnership with the College of Policing and NPCC in due course.
College of Policing · 25 Mar 2024 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 9 Oct 2025 Inquiry assessment: Deadline of September 2024 "was not achievable". Progress varies across forces with "no single repository of best practice". Revised deadline needed. Source →
- 9 Oct 2025 · Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 Report Deadline of September 2024 "was not achievable". Progress varies across forces with "no single repository of best practice". Revised deadline needed. View source → Insufficient Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.