Any form of discrimination in policing is completely unacceptable.

Since the publication of Louise Casey’s 2023 review the MPS has taken action through its ‘New Met for London Plan’. In December 2025 the MPS and Mayor of London announced an independent review of the force’s progress against Baroness Casey’s 2023 report, chaired by Dr Gillian Fairfield.

The Government also supports the aims of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing’s ‘National policing culture and inclusion strategy’ which aims to tackle discrimination within policing.

The Home Office has a regular programme of force engagement on stop and search, including with the Metropolitan Police Service. This has not specifically covered the creation of a stop and search charter for London.

The Home Office have recently run a consultation on our proposed framework for community scrutiny of stop and search, to ensure the power is used proportionately and appropriately.

Taser provides officers with an important tactical option when facing potentially violent situations.

Taser has been approved for police use following independent medical evaluation by the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Medical Implications of Less Lethal Weapons to determine that it is safe and effective.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of incidents where a CED (Conducted Energy Device; Taser) was used, by the age and ethnicity of the individual involved, in the ‘Police use of force, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

These data are collected by police force area only. Data for lower levels of geography, such as Parliamentary Constituencies, are not collected.

Data on the number of incidents involving CED by police force area (including the Metropolitan police force area) by officer perceived age group and officer perceived ethnicity for the year ending 31 March 2022 are available in the open data table that accompanies the release here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

CED use includes where the CED was discharged (drive-stun, fired and angle drive-stun) and not discharged (drawn, aimed, red-dotted and arced). The open data table presents whether a CED was used and the ‘highest’ use in columns BR and BS.

Data covering 1 April 2022 to 31 January 2023 have not yet been collected by the Home Office. Annual data covering the year ending 31 March 2023 will be published in late 2023.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of incidents where a CED (Conducted Energy Device; Taser) was used, by the age and ethnicity of the individual involved, in the ‘Police use of force, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

These data are collected by police force area only. Data for lower levels of geography, such as Parliamentary Constituencies, are not collected.

Data on the number of incidents involving CED by police force area (including the Metropolitan police force area) by officer perceived age group and officer perceived ethnicity for the year ending 31 March 2022 are available in the open data table that accompanies the release here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

CED use includes where the CED was discharged (drive-stun, fired and angle drive-stun) and not discharged (drawn, aimed, red-dotted and arced). The open data table presents whether a CED was used and the ‘highest’ use in columns BR and BS.

Data covering 1 April 2022 to 31 January 2023 have not yet been collected by the Home Office. Annual data covering the year ending 31 March 2023 will be published in late 2023.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of incidents where a CED (Conducted Energy Device; Taser) was used, by the age and ethnicity of the individual involved, in the ‘Police use of force, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

These data are collected by police force area only. Data for lower levels of geography, such as Parliamentary Constituencies, are not collected.

Data on the number of incidents involving CED by police force area (including the Metropolitan police force area) by officer perceived age group and officer perceived ethnicity for the year ending 31 March 2022 are available in the open data table that accompanies the release here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

CED use includes where the CED was discharged (drive-stun, fired and angle drive-stun) and not discharged (drawn, aimed, red-dotted and arced). The open data table presents whether a CED was used and the ‘highest’ use in columns BR and BS.

Data covering 1 April 2022 to 31 January 2023 have not yet been collected by the Home Office. Annual data covering the year ending 31 March 2023 will be published in late 2023.

The Home Office collects and publishes data annually on the number of incidents where a CED (Conducted Energy Device; Taser) was used, by the age and ethnicity of the individual involved, in the ‘Police use of force, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, available here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

These data are collected by police force area only. Data for lower levels of geography, such as Parliamentary Constituencies, are not collected.

Data on the number of incidents involving CED by police force area (including the Metropolitan police force area) by officer perceived age group and officer perceived ethnicity for the year ending 31 March 2022 are available in the open data table that accompanies the release here:

Police use of force statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

CED use includes where the CED was discharged (drive-stun, fired and angle drive-stun) and not discharged (drawn, aimed, red-dotted and arced). The open data table presents whether a CED was used and the ‘highest’ use in columns BR and BS.

Data covering 1 April 2022 to 31 January 2023 have not yet been collected by the Home Office. Annual data covering the year ending 31 March 2023 will be published in late 2023.

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.

The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.

The Home Office engages at a national level with the National Police Chiefs’ Council, police forces and law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to understand the national picture on metal theft, including gas copper pipe theft, and what can be done to tackle it. This includes supporting the work of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Metal Crime Steering Group led by the NPCC lead for metal theft, ACC Charlie Doyle. The Metropolitan Police is represented on this group.

The Home Office provided £177,000 seed corn funding in the 2020/21 financial year to establish the National Infrastructure Crime Reduction Partnership. The Partnership ensures national co-ordination of policing and law enforcement partners to tackle metal theft. The Partnership, facilitates data and intelligence sharing to partners to target offenders, understand emerging trends, and implement crime prevention measures. The partnership has provided training to over 1,600 police officers and other law enforcement agencies in tackling metal theft.

We have also provided funding to Historic England for a project to mark lead from church roofs and explore how to best prevent and investigate theft and illicit disposal of metal from historic sites.

Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and the reports of this incident are deeply concerning.

It was referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) last year and the IOPC served misconduct notices on three police constables and are now nearing completion of their investigation.

We must now let the IOPC conclude its work. We expect the Metropolitan Police Service to respond to the IOPC’s findings swiftly and for policing across England and Wales to learn lessons where applicable. Whilst this is an operational policing matter, the Home Office will consider any broader implications from this case.

The reports of the spiking of drinks with illegal substances, and of other attacks on individuals in nighttime venues, are of course concerning. This is an ongoing matter which the police are investigating. There are regular discussions with the police on this issue.

The Home Secretary and I hold regular meetings with representatives of the Metropolitan Police Service, covering a wide range of subject areas important to the public including stamping out violence against women and girls, tackling serious crime and promoting a diverse workforce.

The Government will always encourage forces to continue to respond to their local communities needs. This is because the police's ability to fulfil their duties is dependent on their capacity to secure and maintain public trust and support for their actions, as part of the model of policing by consent.

The Home Secretary and I hold regular meetings with representatives of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), covering a wide range of subject areas including protest activity.

However, the policing of protests is an operational matter for the police who have comprehensive powers to deal with activities that spread hate or deliberately raise tensions through violence or public disorder.

In this case, it is for the MPS to decide whether any law has been broken and in conjunction with the Crown Prosecution Service, determine whether an action warrants possible criminal proceedings.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on 13 March that an additional £100 million funding in 19/20 will help in the police’s immediate response to the rise in serious knife crime, enabling priority forces to immediately begin planning to put in place the additional capacity they need. The funding will also be invested in Violence Reduction Units, bringing together a range of agencies including health, education, social services and others, to develop a multi-agency approach in preventing serious violence altogether. It is important that we recognise that greater law enforcement on its own will not reduce serious violence and that we must continue to focus on prevention.

The majority of the investment will go towards supporting police forces where violent crime is impacting the most, to take immediate action to suppress the violence we are seeing, to make our streets safer. We are engaging with partners including the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and we are developing the criteria by which forces will receive this funding.

The 2015 Spending Review protected overall police spending in real terms. Since 2015/16 police forces have received broadly flat cash budgets and we are increasing investment in transformation, improved communications and technology capabilities.

The Mayor for London wrote to the Home Secretary in July to state that he had opened a consultation on the potential closure of front counters to reduce costs.

Decisions on the most effective use of the Metropolitan Police’s resources, including the number and operating hours of police stations, are for Chief Officers and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) who are held to account by the communities they serve.

From June 2015 to May 2016, the average time taken to complete Disclosure checks by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) was 94 days and for the police as a whole, 22 days.

The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) is working closely with the small number of forces, including the MPS, whose performance does not meet turnaround time targets. The performance of police disclosure units is an operational issue for individual police forces and the MPS has established a Gold Group to oversee the recovery plan which they have in place to reduce the time taken. I have made clear to the MPS that its current delays must be addressed as a matter of priority and I continue to maintain close oversight of the progress being made.

In 2015/16, the Disclosure and Barring Service processed 87% of all applications within 21 days, against a target of 85%.

Some of the over four million applications received each year need to be referred to one or more police forces for further checks. There is a service level agreement between the Disclosure and Barring Service and police forces in relation to the time taken to complete these local disclosure checks.

These standards are: -

85% of police checks must be completed in 14 days;

90% of police checks must be completed in 18 days;

95% of police checks must be completed in 25 days; and - 100% of police checks must be completed in 60 days.