The Macpherson Report: twenty-two years on

Home Affairs Committee Closed Inquiry
Opened: 5 Jun 2020 Closed: 31 Jan 2024 Parliament page
The Home Affairs Committee has confirmed its intention to complete its predecessors’ work on The Macpherson Report: twenty years on , and will take new evidence on policing and race including on concerns raised about the policing of the Covid-19 lockdown and reported disproportionality in fines and investigations of individuals … Read more
25 Recommendations
77 Conclusions
1 Report
2 Oral sessions
5 Letters
2 Events
Activity timeline 11 events
1 Jul
2022
Correspondence
26 May
2022
Report published
27 Apr
2022
Correspondence
23 Mar
2022
Correspondence
23 Mar
2022
Correspondence
30 Jul
2021
Report published
22 Jul
2020
Oral evidence
22 Jul
2020
Correspondence
22 Jul
2020
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · Room 6, Palace of Westminster
17 Jun
2020
Oral evidence
17 Jun
2020
Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Wilson Room, Portcullis House
Oral evidence sessions 2 sessions
22 Jul 2020
View on parliament.uk
Bishop Derek Webley · Windrush Cross-Government Working Group Inspector Dan Popple · West Midlands Police Pastor Lorraine Jones · Dwayne Simpson Foundation CIC PC Adam Ahmed Sayce Holmes-Lewis · Mentivity
17 Jun 2020
View on parliament.uk
Katrina Ffrench · StopWatch Mirren Gidda · Liberty Investigates Nick Glynn · Open Society Foundations Professor Ben Bowling · Kings College London Rosalind Comyn · Liberty
Title HC No. Published Items Response
Third Report - The Macpherson Report: Twenty-two years on HC 139 30 Jul 2021 102 Responded
Recommendations & Conclusions
9 results
Clear
45 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Progress addressing ethnic disparity in police misconduct requires consistent monitoring and a future audit.
We take some encouragement from the NPCC’s national review into ethnic disparity in police misconduct and the work done by some individual forces to attempt to close the gap. The follow-up work from this review which has been reported to … Read more
Government Response
The government welcomes the new Race Action Plan (May 2022), which will ensure consistent publication of misconduct data broken down by ethnicity. The Home Office will also review the police misconduct system with NPCC and IOPC, with terms set in summer 2022, to ensure fairness and effectiveness.
Home Office
View details
46 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Professional Standards Departments lack BME representation and face institutional racism perceptions.
Police forces must act swiftly to address perceptions that Professional Standards Departments are marked by institutionally racist practices. In addition, forces must address unacceptable racial disproportionality in their composition: it is totally unacceptable that 63% of all Professional Standards Departments … Read more
Government Response
The government welcomes the NPCC and College of Policing's new Race Action Plan, to be published in May 2022, which will address disproportionality in misconduct cases and ensure consistent data publication. The Home Office also commits to reviewing the police misconduct system with the NPCC and IOPC, setting out terms and timelines in summer 2022.
Home Office
View details
57 Conclusion Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Gaps in police communication and de-escalation training hinder fair and effective stop and search.
We have heard about a number of important initiatives designed to improve the experience of stops, and particularly welcome those referred to in this report that have been introduced by both BME community leaders and police forces to foster more … Read more
Government Response
The government agrees on the importance of training and states that existing training and guidelines, including new conflict management guidelines, are already in place and part of the new curriculum. It further commits to supporting a review and delivery of any necessary improvements to de-escalation and conflict management training by autumn 2024 as part of the Inclusive Britain report.
Home Office
View details
58 Conclusion Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Independent community oversight of stop and search is vital to earn public confidence.
We believe that the confidence of local communities will only be earned if there is proper, independent oversight of stop and search, by the community at a local level and, at a national level, by HMICFRS and the Home Office. … Read more
Government Response
The government acknowledges that external reviews of body worn video with community panels are already happening in 'a number of forces' and commits to exploring how best to facilitate wider sharing of BWV footage with local scrutiny panels and sharing best practice to improve scrutiny.
Home Office
View details
60 Conclusion Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Metropolitan Police Gangs Violence Matrix lacks robust oversight for racial disproportionality.
The Metropolitan Police developed the Gangs Violence Matrix as a new way to provide intelligence to tackle serious gang related violence and crime in London, but without robust systems in place to consider racial disproportionality on the database, ensure proper … Read more
Government Response
The government commits to developing a national ethics framework for policing which will apply to new technologies and data processing, addressing the 'wider efforts' part of the recommendation. However, it does not explicitly refer to MOPAC's commitment regarding the Gangs Violence Matrix.
Home Office
View details
63 Conclusion Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Police body-worn cameras require consistent use and structured oversight to build confidence.
New technologies have the potential either to re-build community confidence and/ or to badly damage it, depending on the technology, on the way it is introduced and the nature of the oversight. The introduction of police body-worn cameras, if done … Read more
Government Response
The government highlights that updated guidance for BWV use, supervisory review, and sharing footage with scrutiny panels was issued in July 2020 and adopted by most forces. It also commits to exploring how best to facilitate sharing BWV footage with local scrutiny panels and to share best practice to improve scrutiny and consistency.
Home Office
View details
70 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Include explicit anti-racism focus in police officer training, examining racial disparities and outcomes.
Training for officers in addressing racism and valuing cultural diversity remains as important now as it was when the Macpherson report recommended it twenty-two years ago. But we are concerned by the disproportionate reliance on unconscious bias training that was … Read more
Government Response
The government commits to supporting the College and NPCC by autumn 2024 to review and improve police officer training in de-escalation and conflict management, and refers to the 'Race Action Plan' which includes measures to improve policing.
Home Office
View details
71 Recommendation Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
Mandate comprehensive review and overhaul of police anti-racism training by College of Policing.
We would like to see consistency in the quality and content of training delivered at a local and service wide level. To this end we recommend a comprehensive review and overhaul of training on racism, diversity and equality, led by … Read more
Government Response
The government commits to supporting the College and NPCC by autumn 2024 to review and improve police officer training in de-escalation and conflict management, and references the new 'Race Action Plan', but does not explicitly commit to a comprehensive overhaul for national anti-racist training standards involving local communities.
Home Office
View details
89 Conclusion Accepted in Part
Third Report - The Macpherson Repo…
College of Policing's anti-racism training and recommendations uptake inadequate
The College of Policing has an important role to play in providing training, guidance and standards for police forces to follow. Although it has developed training and guidance on stop and search, it has not played a strong enough role … Read more
Government Response
The government supports the College of Policing's role in training and commits to supporting the College and NPCC by autumn 2024 to review and improve police officer training in areas like de-escalation skills and conflict management.
Home Office
View details
Government Response AI assessment · 95 of 25 classified
Accepted 39
Accepted in Part 9
Acknowledged 22
Deferred 1
Not Addressed 19
Rejected 5
Total 25 recs + 77 conclusions
Correspondence 5 letters
1 Jul 2022 From committee Letter to the Home Secretary on the Macpherson Report: 22 years on, dated 23 March 2022
Parliament page
27 Apr 2022 To committee Letter from the Home Secretary on the Macpherson Report: 22 years on, dated 31 March 2022.
Parliament page
23 Mar 2022 To committee Letter from the Home Secretary on the government response to the Macpherson Report: 22 Years On, dated 11 March 2022
Parliament page
23 Mar 2022 To committee Letter from the Minister for Equalities on the Government's response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities' (CRED) Report, dated 17 March 2022
Parliament page
22 Jul 2020 To committee Letter from the Director General of the Independent Office of Police Conduct on recording ethnicity data in investigations dated 27 March 2020
Parliament page