My Lords, I am pleased to support this amendment in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, as well as those of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, and the noble Baroness, Lady Newlove, who has spoken so eloquently and passionately on this subject. The Government claimed that the inquiry that was established would be quicker as a non-statutory inquiry; from my experience, that is not necessarily the case. The reality is that in phase 2 of this inquiry, if not in phase 1, we need an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005, which is not limited to the activities of one officer but embraces the very important issues of recruitment, vetting, funding and resourcing of anti-corruption activity, and the fact that the IPCC is so underfunded for the anti-corruption work that it has to do.
My inquiry and others before it have pointed out the serious deficiencies in the management and funding of those elements of police responsibility that are dedicated to identifying criminals within police ranks and dealing effectively with them. I reported in June last year. Given my experience of investigating matters involving the MPS, the IPCC and the Crown Prosecution Service over some six years, I do not believe that a non-statutory inquiry can act as effectively as one armed with the power to compel witnesses and the discovery of documentation. My panel was to report within 12 months of receiving documentation. We received our first documents in January 2015 and our last in March 2021. We reported three months later, saying:
“It is very important that lessons are learned about planning and preparation before the appointment of panels and similar public scrutiny bodies to avoid unnecessary distress to the families of those affected and unnecessary delays and costs to the public purse.”
I am sure that everybody’s thoughts tonight are with the family of Sarah Everard and with all those women who are listening, as the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, has said, and who will be affected by the outcome of this inquiry. Earlier, as we sat waiting for this amendment to be called, a number of Members—noble Baronesses—were discussing what it feels like as a sole woman to walk out of your Lordships’ House at this time of night and later, and try to find our way safely to the places that we stay in.
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Security clearance processes and vetting for police officers and police staff are fundamental to any anti-corruption strategy. Regular updating of the security status of each individual is essential to identify any concerns and to enable action to be taken in respect of such concerns. We said that the Metropolitan Police
should remain vigilant at all times to ensure not only that it vets its employees in accordance with its new measures but also that it has adequate and effective processes to establish whether its officers are engaged in crime. This is what happened in the case of Sarah Everard. The failure to deal with her murderer may have left him free to kill.
We received evidence from officers who sought to bring wrongdoing to the attention of their managers but the matters they raised were not effectively dealt with. We recommended that HMIC should do a thematic investigation of the operation of the practices and procedures introduced following the adoption of the code of ethics in 2014 to determine whether there are sufficient resources to protect police officers, police staff and whistleblowers who wished to draw wrongdoing to the attention of their organisations.
We identified the fact that the Metropolitan Police placed the reputation of the organisation above the need for accountability and transparency. That lack of candour and the repeated failure to take a fresh, thorough and critical look at past failings are symptoms of institutional corruption, which prioritises institutional reputation over public accountability.
Most people become police officers to serve the public, not to engage in wrongdoing and acts of crime. They do very difficult and, at times, dangerous work, most of them without compromising their integrity. I accept that the management of policing is a very complex process, but there has been a failure over decades to tackle police corruption in all its forms and to resource anti-corruption work properly. We know that Wayne Couzens abused his position as a police officer.
There is evidence that, despite efforts over many years, a culture still exists that inhibits both organisational and individual accountability. The response to corruption and wrongdoing in all its forms must comply with the law and demonstrate candour and adherence to the police code of ethics. The internal and external structures designed to ensure integrity and ethical conduct must be properly resourced in order for policing to be truly accountable, for corrupt officers to be confronted and for honest officers to be affirmed.
That is why the inquiry should be a statutory one, capable of investigating much more than matters relating only to Wayne Couzens. That is why this amendment, which comes so late tonight, is so important for the future of British policing. I thank the noble Baronesses and the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, for this amendment. It has my full support.