Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that 5,279 children have been stripped and searched by Metropolitan Police Officers; and what steps they are taking to ensure that (1) such action was appropriate and essential, and (2) children’s safety and wellbeing is considered.

Conducting a strip search is an operational matter for the police. Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and its use should not be a routine occurrence.

Any use of strip search should be carried out in accordance with the law and with full regard for the dignity and welfare of the individual being searched – particularly if the individual being searched is a child. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 Codes of Practice govern how the police should deploy this power.

If the police judge it operationally necessary to strip search a child, this must be carried out by officers of the same sex, in private and with an appropriate adult present unless both the child and the appropriate adult agree otherwise and in line with safeguarding procedures.