Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her Department's policy is on the disproportionate use of force against BME people in prison and police custody.

The Government is clear that all use of force in prison and police custody – or any other setting – must be lawful, necessary, proportionate and conducted as safely as is possible. If officers need to use force, it is right that they are expected to account for their actions.

We are committed to improving transparency and accountability on the police use of force, which is why in 2014 the then Home Secretary asked former CC David Shaw (Chief Constable for West Mercia until July 2016) to lead a review into what data should be recorded and published. The review reported in 2015 and recommended the police record and publish the ethnicity, age, location and outcome for all incidents where a reasonable level of force is used, including physical restraint, less lethal weapons and firearms.

All police forces in England and Wales have been working to implement this data collection system from April 2017. All forces are expected to publish their record level use of force data for the first time this summer. A subset of this use of force data will also form part of the Home Office 2017-18 Annual Data Requirement, which will be published on GOV.UK in summer 2018.