R8 Response Accepted Self-assessed

Information management Code of Practice

Recommendation

A Code of Practice should be produced covering record creation, review, retention, deletion and information sharing. This should be made under the Police Reform Act 2002 and needs to be clear, concise and practical. It should supersede existing guidance.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Code of Practice on the Management of Police Information (MOPI) was published in July 2005, directly implementing the requirement for a clear, concise, and practical code (Gov.uk progress, 2005-07-01). This code, made under the Police Reform Act 2002 (via the Police Act 1996), covers record creation, review, retention, deletion, and information sharing, and superseded existing guidance as recommended.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 18 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk
Jurisdiction
UK-wide
Response
Accepted
Accepted Home Office
22 Jun 2004

The Home Secretary made a statement to Parliament on 22 June 2004, the day the Bichard Inquiry Report was published, accepting all 31 recommendations in full. The government stated it was "in principle, accepting Sir Michael's main recommendations and will act on them immediately." Implementation led to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and the creation of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (now the Disclosure and Barring Service). By February 2007, 21 of the 31 recommendations had been fully or substantially completed. See Hansard, 22 June 2004.

Read Full Response
Note: Government responded with a single statement accepting all 31 recommendations. Individual per-recommendation responses were not published separately.
Progress Timeline
Home Office states: Official Report
01 Jul 2005

MOPI Code of Practice published July 2005, directly implementing the requirement for a clear, concise and practical code covering record creation, review, retention, deletion and information sharing.

Source
Source
Inquiry Bichard Inquiry
Report The Bichard Inquiry Report 22 Jun 2004
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Home Office Primary
Themes & Tags
Police tech abuse response Police Vetting Inconsistencies Police Intelligence Information Management
Recommendation age 21.8 yrs
Last formal update 7571 days ago