ANG-9 Response Accepted AI-assessed

Improve vetting decision-making quality and consistency

Recommendation

By March 2025, the College of Policing, in collaboration with force vetting units, should take steps to improve the quality and consistency of police vetting decision-making. This should include encouraging the use of greater professional rigour and curiosity when investigating lines of enquiry, in order to prevent those who commit sexually motivated crimes against women and those otherwise unsuitable for policing from joining the policing profession. These steps should include the following: a. Recruiting forces should be able to request that unresolved allegations discovered during vetting processes be reinvestigated. b. In collaboration with the National Police Chiefs' Council, a national vetting capability should be created, as an advisory function, to provide another layer of confidence in instances where complex vetting investigations and decisions are required. In such cases, forces should approach the national vetting function to seek proposed lines of enquiry and ensure that they are following an agreed, standardised approach when considering complex cases. c. Consideration should be given during vetting to any information or intelligence about police officers being reported missing, regardless of how quickly such reports were closed. d. Forces must ensure that force vetting units are complying with and practising Section 6.2 of the College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice on Vetting (2021), which states that force vetting units must record the results of vetting enquiries; the rationale for refusing, suspending, withdrawing or granting clearance, including with restrictions; and where adverse information has been revealed and considered. This is to ensure that an audit trail is recorded to give the force confidence in decisions made at the time and to allow future vetting officers to constructively scrutinise vetting enquiries and outcomes.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The College of Policing accepted this recommendation by March 2024. As of October 2025, the recommendation was partially implemented (Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 Report, 9 October 2025). Recommendations 9(a) and 9(d) were addressed through revised Authorised Professional Practice. However, recommendation 9(b) for a national vetting capability was marked as closed without being implemented, and recommendation 9(c) was addressed through guidance but not fully 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, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
England
Section Reference
Recommendation 9
Response
Accepted
Under Consideration Home Office Initial Response
29 Feb 2024

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: "The act of pure evil committed against Sarah shocked the nation to its core. My heart goes out to Sarah's family and to all the brave victims who came forward to help inform this report and drive change. The man who committed these crimes is not a reflection on the majority of dedicated police officers working day in, day out to help people. But Sarah was failed in more ways than one by the people who were meant to keep her safe, and it laid bare wider issues in policing and society that need to be urgently fixed. In the 3 years since, a root and stem clean-up of the policing workforce has been underway and we have made huge strides – as well as making tackling violence against women and girls a national policing priority to be treated on par with terrorism. But we will continue to do everything in our power to protect women and girls. I am grateful to Lady Elish for her meticulous investigation. Her insights will be invaluable as we move forward in supporting our police to build forces of the highest standards of integrity and regain the trust of the British public."

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Accepted College of Policing Follow-up
25 Mar 2024

The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and College of Policing has at the same time committed to addressing the remaining recommendations in Lady Angiolini's report concerning police culture and increasing the robustness of police vetting. The government will follow up with further detail on how the recommendations will be delivered in partnership with the College of Policing and NPCC in due course.

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Progress Timeline
Official Report
09 Oct 2025

Inquiry assessment: Partially implemented. National vetting capability (9b) has not been implemented and is marked as closed.

Published Evidence

Published assessments of implementation progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Check the source type badge to see whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Insufficient Progress
09 Oct 2025
Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 Report Other

Partially implemented. National vetting capability (9b) has not been implemented and is marked as closed.

View detailed findings

Recommendations 9(a) and 9(d) addressed through revised Authorised Professional Practice. Recommendation 9(b) for national vetting capability has been marked as closed without being implemented. 9(c) addressed through guidance but not fully as recommended.

The Angiolini Inquiry Part 2 First Report, Chapte… View Source
Source
Report Angiolini Inquiry Part 1 Report 29 Feb 2024
Responsible Bodies
College of Policing Primary
Recommendation age 2.1 yrs
Last formal update 09 Oct 2025