Black and Minority-ethnic Children: Police Strip-searches

Debate between Lord Boateng and Lord Sharpe of Epsom

Monday 27th March 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

I reassure my noble friend that there is no reason why the Home Secretary could not write now, but the report was delivered in its final conclusion only on Friday and we are still assessing its recommendations.

[Lord Boateng (Lab)]

My Lords, less than a third of the cases referred to in the ombudsman’s report—31%—led to an arrest. Does the Minister agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, when she said that strip-searching as done by the Met was an example of

“over-policing and disproportionate use of powers against certain communities”

and may be due to

“‘adultification’, where Black children are treated as adults and as a threat, therefore justifying greater use of force or intrusive interventions.”

Those were her words. Does the Minister agree with them?

[Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Con)]

I am not going to agree or disagree with those words. The noble Baroness, Lady Casey, delivered them in good faith, and I take her word in good faith. I think a lot more thought needs to go into all the various recommendations that have been made in the various reviews, many of which I happily acknowledge raise a number of very serious issues that demand urgent attention.