Police Leadership Commission Report

Lord Young of Acton Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

My noble friend brings great experience from her role in the Civil Service Commission to the matter of recruiting individuals at a senior level. It is quite clear—the report makes this point very strongly—that police officers at all levels must be able to develop skills earlier in their career to enable them to develop and progress. The commission’s report highlights the fact that policing needs a clearer and more coherent system that supports professional development at all ranks. As the noble Lord, Lord Davies of Gower, mentioned, there are undoubtedly lessons and models that can be looked at in other aspects of society that will help support the development process.

[Lord Young of Acton (Con)]

My Lords, I declare my interest as the director of the Free Speech Union. I welcome this report, which contains many sensible suggestions.

Gavin Stephens, the chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, announced a review last month of guidance contained in the NPCC and College of Policing’s race action plan and its anti-racism commitment. That guidance suggested that officers should treat ethnic minorities differently in order to ensure what it described as equality of outcomes, defined as equalising arrest and charging rates between different groups. Given that some ethnic groups are more likely to commit crimes than others, that inevitably means treating some groups more leniently than others—aka, two-tier policing. Will the Minister give the House a progress report on Gavin Stephens’s review of this guidance? Can he also tell us when the independent review into hate crime and public order legislation by the noble Lord, Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, will be published? A couple of weeks ago the Minister said that it would be published before the Summer Recess.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

On the latter point, we are hoping to publish the review as soon as possible. As the noble Lord will recognise, there are some things that the Government wish to announce but which they are not able to due to the upcoming change of Prime Minister. However, I intend to publish the document as soon as is practicable and will ensure that a report is made to the House in due course.

With due respect, I do not accept the noble Lord’s contention that there is two-tier policing. The document to which he refers is designed to give guidance to officers to understand the various pressures and some of the diversity issues that exist. Ultimately, officers deal with crime, no matter who commits it or where it is committed. They need to bring people to justice and make arrests accordingly. I will reflect on what he said and will discuss the matter, via our offices in the Home Office, with Gavin Stephens of the National Police Chiefs’ Council but, from my perspective, the general contention is that crime is crime, the police are there to deal with it, and we must have an understanding of the diversity issues in order to have the confidence of the whole community when dealing with those issues.