Metropolitan Police: Casey Review

Mark Pritchard Excerpts

Tuesday 21st March 2023 Commons Chamber

[Suella Braverman]

I have taken action by consulting on the disciplinary process. Vetting standards are set by the College of Policing, via its statutory code of practice and its authorised professional practice guidance on vetting, to ensure that standards are improved. I asked the inspectorate to conduct a rapid review of all forces and their responses to the report’s findings. The Policing Minister has led a lot of work with the College of Policing to strengthen its statutory code of practice for police vetting, making the obligations that all forces must legally follow stricter and clearer. We are doing work in the Home Office, but I am afraid that, ultimately, political accountability lies with the Mayor of London.

[Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con)]

I note the Home Secretary’s support for the commissioner, but could it be the case that the future of the Met hangs on one word: “ambiguous”? Not “institutional” but “ambiguous”. Is there anything ambiguous in either the findings, the recommendations or the terminology that the Home Secretary has seen in the Casey report?

[Suella Braverman]

Baroness Casey is clear that the vast majority of serving police officers in the Met uphold the highest professional and cultural standards. This report is not about them but about the unambiguous systemic failings of culture, management and accountability. I am very keen for us all to learn from this diagnosis, from which reform must grow.