Transparency data

Home Office Response: CJA super complaint

Published 13 May 2024

Applies to England and Wales

Home Office response to s60 super-complaint report

Recommendation 6 (for Home Office)

At the earliest opportunity, the Home Office should change the Annual Data Requirement to require all police forces to record and return annual data on section 60 that includes:

• the number, locations, area and durations of section 60 authorisations granted
• the number of authorisations refused
• the number of searches made under each authorisation; and
• the outcome of each search

The Home Office should publish this information in a way that allows the public to compare the data, including comparing geographical locations and size of area covered by section 60 authorisations.

Response

The Home Office is continually looking to improve its understanding of disparities in stop and search and share this publicly in the interests of transparency. We now collect data on both age and sex (as well as ethnicity), and we are also able to display specifically where and when stop and search interactions are taking place. In June 2023, the government published detailed findings from research into the use of Section 60 stop and search in a pilot introduced in 2019. Using this data, we have a more detailed understanding on how stop and search is used and how best to build on the existing trust and confidence held between the police and the community they serve.

All prospective amendments to the Annual Data Requirement are considered via an annual process designed to ensure proportionality and deliverability. The Home Office will ensure that the additional data collection recommended in the super-complaint report with regard to Section 60 stop and search powers is considered via this process for potential inclusion from 2025/26. The Department will update HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the College of Policing of the outcome of this process.

Recommendation 9 (for Home Office)

The Home Office, in finalising the national minimum standards framework for community scrutiny panels, working with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and other interested parties, should include provisions to:

• make sure the terms of reference, practices and scrutiny processes are consistent for all community scrutiny panels
• include children and/or young people in the scrutiny process, including those who have been stopped and searched
• make sure community scrutiny panels review the police use of force during stop and searches, including when handcuffs are used
• make sure community scrutiny panels review the police grounds for authorisation and use of section 60 stop and search powers
• train and develop community scrutiny panel members to carry out their scrutiny roles; and
• secure effective oversight arrangements

Response

In the 2022 report, Inclusive Britain, the Government committed to working with policing partners including the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, to develop a new, national framework for how the use of police powers such as stop and search are scrutinised at a local level.

The Home Office ran a public consultation on the draft National Community Scrutiny Framework, which closed in October 2023. The framework aims to assist Police and Crime Commissioners and police forces to establish and maintain effective local Community Scrutiny Panels and ensure a consistent approach nationally.

The Home Office is considering the proposals in this recommendation alongside the responses to the consultation.