When asked about its plans, the Home Office acknowledged that nobody should be targeted by the police on the basis of their ethnicity, or any other factor linked to their background. It told us that it works with communities to make sure that communities have a framework for scrutinising the use of police powers where “that would be useful and necessary”.58 The Ministry of Justice told us that it is working to reduce disparities by improving the clarity of decisions about whether to remand someone in custody ahead of their trial, and increasing the legal advice that children are provided when in police custody. It also said that it is pushing to ensure that local partnerships have the data they need to understand local disparities and are acting locally to address these.59 When asked about whether it felt confident it had the resources to address the issue, the Ministry of Justice told us the complexity of the issues causing the disproportionality, and the need for action across many different policy areas, makes it difficult to guarantee success.60 Data sharing