Asked by
The Lord
To ask His Majesty’s Government, following the first report of
the Angiolini Inquiry published on 29 February, what assessment
they have made of the case for reforming police recruitment.
The Lord
In begging leave to ask the Question in my name on the Order
Paper, I declare my interest as co-chair of the national police
ethics committee.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office () (Con)
My Lords, the horrific crimes committed by a then serving police
officer shocked the nation and undermined public confidence in
the police. My thoughts are with the family and friends of Sarah
Everard; I cannot imagine how painful this must be for them. In
the years since, the Home Office has worked closely with policing
partners to strengthen the way that police officers are
recruited, vetted, scrutinised and disciplined. The Government
will continue to work with policing partners to consider the
findings and recommendations of this report at pace, and will
respond fully in due course.
The Lord
I thank the Minister for that helpful reply. The Angiolini report
makes one thing very clear: the appalling long-term toleration of
the killer’s abusive and criminal behaviour was made possible by
two related factors. The first is a misogynistic culture, and the
second is the persistence of employment practices that discourage
women from joining, remaining and progressing to senior roles
within police forces. Do His Majesty’s Government accept that the
culture of UK policing needs an overhaul? What specific steps
will they undertake to reform recruitment and retention to ensure
that female officers and staff can thrive in policing, and thrive
in the numbers necessary to ensure that women in Britain need no
longer fear the dangers that led to the death of Sarah Everard?
(Con)
The right reverend Prelate in effect asked me two questions.
Decisions about police recruitment, including how recruitment and
selection processes are run, are a matter for chief constables
and Police and Crime
Commissioners and are therefore managed locally by forces.
But they are managed within a national application, assessment
and selection framework, which is in line with guidance
maintained by the College of Policing. That guidance was updated
in February 2023, and all 43 forces are now utilising the various
online assessment protocols and the face-to-face
requirements.
On the culture of the police, it is difficult to disagree with my
right honourable friend the Home Secretary, who said that
“the best processes and structures in the world cannot replace
focus and leadership. It is incredibly important that leadership
at every rank in policing takes that seriously”.—[Official
Report, Commons, 29/2/24; col. 456.]
This is a conversation that he has had with police leaders and
the College of Policing to ensure that the attitudes highlighted
in the report change. Without that shift in attitude, the culture
will remain the same, which is clearly not acceptable.
(CB)
Has the Minister ever looked at the fact that we are talking
about a class issue here? Most police officers come from the
class that I come from, and most of the leading people who run
the police force come from another class. It is a bit like the
Army. When are the middle classes going to join the police force
and create a mix, rather than relying exclusively on the working
classes to do the hard part?
(Con)
The noble Lord raises an interesting point. Of course, the point
of the police is that they are there to represent us all.
According to the Peelite principles, they have to have our
consent to do so, and therefore they should very much look like
us.
(Lab)
My Lords, on these Benches too our thoughts are with Sarah
Everard’s family at this time. The recommendations that Lady
makes about vetting are
what an ordinary recruitment agency would do as a matter of
course: face-to-face interviews and home visits. Anybody in your
Lordships’ House who has adopted a cat or dog will know that you
have a home visit to make sure you are suitable as a potential
adopter—this is basic stuff. They need to find out about the
suitability and psychological suitability, taking notice of PNDs
and revetting those on transfer from another force or military,
or any government location. Taking it on trust that someone has
been vetted by these agencies and therefore is okay surely does
not work, so why does the Home Office not have a national vetting
programme that is compulsory and that all police forces have to
follow?
(Con)
The noble Baroness raises some good points, and she is quite
right about some of the recommendations made by Lady Elish. The
Government of course recognise that there have been significant
and justifiable concerns regarding police vetting, so over the
past year we have worked to sort that out. As noble Lords will be
aware, in early 2023 we asked the College of Policing to update
the statutory code of practice for vetting, which was published
in July 2023. It makes clear the expectation that chief officers
will ensure that vetting standards are maintained within their
forces. The vetting code is supported by the authorised
professional practice guidance for vetting, which has recently
been revised. There is much more to do on this—no one is denying
that. I take the noble Baroness’s point seriously but, as I say,
we will soon respond in full to the report and the
recommendations.
(LD)
My Lords, everyone is appalled by this dreadful crime and our
thoughts are with Sarah Everard’s family. Will the Government
commit to ensuring that female police officers and police staff
have the same rights as the public to make a complaint of
domestic abuse against their own police force? At the moment
their only option is to make a criminal complaint, which most of
them are not happy to do. That is definitely not helping
recruitment or retention of females in the police force.
(Con)
My Lords, we have already referred to the culture that needs to
change, and that is part of the overall cultural change that is
required. I am not particularly familiar with how that sort of
report would need to be made. I will look into that and come back
to the noble Baroness.
(CB)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that the current situation
represents a terrible collapse of trust throughout society? There
was a time when we could all have confidence in politicians,
civil servants, police and everything. Now that trust in the
police has gone, that is deeply damaging to the relationships
that we have with each other and with the organs of society, and
to the safety with which women and men can walk around.
(Con)
I agree with the noble Baroness up to a point. As I said in my
earlier answer, that trust has to be rebuilt by strong
leadership. In the case of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark
Rowley has demonstrated his capacity to give the leadership that
is required. He needs to be allowed time for that to happen, but
he has been in post for a while so I am hopeful that results will
be delivered soon.
(Lab)
My Lords, in addition to the 16 recommendations pointing to
specific system and individual failings that explain what
happened in this very tragic case, Lady Angiolini identifies two
factors. One of them, mentioned by the right reverend Prelate, is
the culture in the police that has persistently not changed. The
second is the failure of senior police leadership to deal with
those issues and challenge that culture. What women in
particular, the public in general and the thousands of decent men
and women in the police service want to see is the Government
taking responsibility for the changes that are required—not
saying that this is the province of chief constables or whoever
but showing responsibility and leading the change that is
necessary.
(Con)
We do. Obviously we have to maintain the operational independence
of the police—I do not think there is any question or dispute
about that—so leadership of the police has to remain localised to
that extent. However, noble Lords will be aware that we have
invested in the College of Policing’s National Centre for Police
Leadership, which has already set out standards at every level.
There is no dispute that the leadership of the police needs to up
its game.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, I declare my interests as set out in the register. What
plans does the Home Office have to take some responsibility here
and mandate the psychological assessment of potential police
recruits, looking particularly for any propensity to
inappropriately exert power over others?
(Con)
My Lords, as I understand it, part of the online process for
recruitment involves an element of psychometric testing. I do not
know precisely what that testing involves, but I will find out
and come back. The online assessment process is very
complicated—otherwise, I would give more detail.
(Lab)
My Lords, in 2018 the Government shelved the second part of the
Leveson inquiry—which had wisely been initiated by the former
Prime Minister, the noble Lord, —which was to examine the
criminal nexus between rogue police officers and journalists.
Since then, we have had the Henriques report, the Casey review
and now the Angiolini review. How confident is the Minister today
that there are not criminal police officers who would have been
caught by the second part of that inquiry, who were
inappropriately recruited by the police and who are still in
office?
(Con)
I cannot comment on the inquiry itself. Unfortunately, I cannot
be as confident as I would like to be that there are no police
officers out there who remain to be caught. Unfortunately, these
incidents keep coming to light. Sir Mark Rowley warned us that
there were more still to come to light, so I expect to hear
more.
(CB)
My Lords, the excellent recommendation 7 of the Angiolini report
was that every police recruitment process should have a holistic
in-person interview looking at the motivations of the person
concerned for joining the police and the extent of their
dedication to serving the public. I have a close family member of
the fairer sex who has just successfully been through the
appraisal system but did not have such an in-person interview
matching that description. Will the Minister look closely at
recommendation 7 to see how quickly it can be implemented?
(Con)
I have to say that she should have been interviewed face to face.
The information I have is that all 43 forces in England and Wales
are conducting those face-to-face interviews. Perhaps the noble
Lord would like to share the details, and I will investigate
further.
