To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the performance of the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC); what plans they have, if any, to improve the performance of the IOPC; and to what timescale any such improvements will be made.
Answered on
7 January 2020
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is an independent organisation. Operational decisions, including the qualifications and professional experience needed by staff to carry out investigations, are a matter for them.
Since the reforms introduced by the Government to create the IOPC in January 2018, the organisation has seen substantial improvement in their operational performance. A summary of their performance for 2018/19 (the last full year for which figures are available) can be found in their Annual Report & Accounts. https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/Who-we-are/accountability-performance/IOPC_annual_report_and_accounts_2018-19.pdf
Furthermore, the IOPC’s business plan https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/Who-we-are/accountability-performance/IOPC_Business_plan_2019-20.pdf sets out how they plan to build on these improvements in 2019/20.
The IOPC’s performance is scrutinised by their unitary Board and the organisation is accountable to Parliament.