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Crime and Policing Bill

My Lords, Amendment 438D, in my name and that of my noble friend Lord Cameron of Lochiel, seeks to exempt the police from the public sector equality duty under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 when they are exercising core policing and law enforcement functions. The public sector equality duty requires public authorities, in the exercise of their functions, to

“have due regard to the need to … eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation … advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it … foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it”.

The purpose of the amendment is simple, and it comes from what should be a fundamental truism: the police should focus unambiguously on preventing crime, protecting the public and upholding the law.

Police forces already operate within one of the most extensive frameworks of legal accountability in public life. Their powers are constrained by statutes such as the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, regulations, ethics codes, common law and detailed operational safeguards. Despite this, operational decisions of police officers are being second-guessed not through the lens of legality or effectiveness but through compliance with equality impact assessments, diversity metrics and institutional diversity, equality, and inclusion priorities that were never designed for split-second operational judgments.

There is a practical application here. The police are often hampered in their ability to stop and search people because of their duties under the Equality Act. For example, the Police and Criminal Evidence Act Code A, which governs the operation of police powers to stop and search, states that

“when police officers are carrying out their functions, they also have a duty to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, to advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and people who do not share it, and to take steps to foster good relations between those persons”.

I think it would be quite widely accepted by the public that it is not the police’s role to advance equality of opportunity. They are not activists.

3.45 pm

Noble Lords will be aware of the Government’s White Paper on police reform, published yesterday, which says:

“It is vital that the police are able to focus on the public’s priorities: reducing crime, tackling anti-social behaviour and apprehending those who break the law. Too often the police find themselves fighting crime with one hand tied behind their backs, dealing with excessive bureaucracy, obsolete technology and outdated legislation”.

I agree with that statement. The police often have their hands tied behind their backs, hampering their ability to fight crime effectively. The public sector equality duty is just that: excessive bureaucracy. Communities across the country want visible policing, proactive crime prevention and confident officers on the streets. They do not want a police service distracted by box-ticking exercises or ideological compliance regimes that undermine morale and operational clarity. I beg to move.