Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the extent to which the ten recommendations from the IOPC report 'National learning recommendations and responses - EIP searches of children, published on 19 March 2024 have been implemented.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) ‘National Learning Recommendations re: Exposure of Intimate Parts Searches of Children’ report made ten recommendations. Seven recommendations have been fully implemented, and work is ongoing for the other three. Progress on these is set out below:

• Recommendation 1, Updating Authorised Professional Practice Guidance: The College of Policing has reviewed and is in the process of updating the Authorised Professional Practice guidance, which will embed trauma-informed and child-centred principles.

• Recommendation 2, Provision of Appropriate Adults: The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has worked closely with forces to ensure that officers understand the legislative requirements for providing Appropriate Adults during searches of children. They have also engaged with stakeholders to develop and disseminate clear information to help children in custody understand how Appropriate Adults can and should support them.

• Recommendation 3, Child First Approach: The College of Policing is reviewing and updating guidance and training materials to reinforce a child-centred, trauma-informed, approach to searches of children.

• Recommendation 4, Coordination of National Policing Response: The Home Office has fostered greater collaboration across policing partners by convening regular engagement with the NPCC, College of Policing, and His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, to ensure that the response to the IOPC’s recommendations is coordinated, evidence-based and embedded in frontline practice.

• Recommendation 5, Annual Data Requirements (ADR): The ADR has been significantly expanded to create a more comprehensive and robust dataset, enabling clearer monitoring of police practice and better-informed safeguarding assessments. Forces are now required to provide detailed and consistent information on searches that expose intimate parts, both in custody and under stop and search powers. This includes the geographic location of the search, whether a supervisor was consulted, and whether an Appropriate Adult was present. The latest stop and search data, published on GOV.UK recently (Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK), includes additional details on strip searches. Data on searches in custody is due to be published in March 2026.

• Recommendation 6, Data Collection and Monitoring: The NPCC has implemented regular data monitoring procedures, so that the circumstances and rationale for child strip searches are consistently reviewed. Any issues or learning identified through these reviews are addressed by the Custody Leadership Team within each force, helping drive improvements in practice.

• Recommendation 7, Authorisation Guidance: The NPCC has reviewed and strengthened authorisation processes for exposure of intimate parts searches. It has also recommended that a senior officer must authorise the strip search of a child, ensuring decisions are made with the necessary accountability, justification, necessity and proportionality.

• Recommendation 8, Research Around Trauma: The College of Policing has enhanced its evidence base and incorporated key findings related to the trauma experienced by children during strip searches into their products.

• Recommendation 9, Voice of the Child: Relevant guidance and training products are being reviewed and updated by the College of Policing, to ensure the ‘Voice of the Child’ is more consistently reflected.

Recommendation 10, Mandatory Safeguarding Referral following exposure of intimate parts searches: The Home Office has led system-wide consultations to consider amendments to Code A and C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984), including mandating a safeguarding referral for any child who is subject to an exposure of intimate parts search. The Government is committed to introducing new legal safeguards around the strip search of children as soon as possible.