R11 Response Accepted Self-assessed

Sexual offences intelligence retention

Recommendation

The Code of Practice should have particular regard to the factors to be considered when reviewing the retention or deletion of intelligence in cases of sexual offences.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The MOPI Code of Practice, published in July 2005, specifically addressed the retention and deletion of intelligence in cases of sexual offences (Gov.uk progress, 2005). National retention schedules for police records now include specific provisions for sexual offences intelligence. No further published evidence has been identified since 2005.
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 (2005) specifically addressed retention and deletion of intelligence in cases of sexual offences. National retention schedules for police records include specific provisions for sexual offences intelligence.

Source
Source
Inquiry Bichard Inquiry
Report The Bichard Inquiry Report 22 Jun 2004
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Home Office Primary
Themes & Tags
Police investigation management Child exploitation criminalisation Police Intelligence Sexual Offences
Recommendation age 21.8 yrs
Last formal update 7571 days ago