Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to tackle the use of strip search powers against children.

Stop and search is a vital tool for tackling crime, but it must be exercised fairly and lawfully. Using ethnicity as a factor in deciding whether to stop and search someone, except where pursuing a specific description, is unlawful. Code A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, referencing the Equality Act 2010, prohibits stops based on physical appearance. Supervision of officers and their use of stop and search powers rests with chief constables.

The Government supports the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Police Race Action Plan, which promotes an anti-racist culture and commits chief constables to address disproportionality, ensuring decisions are based on evidence, not ethnicity. On stop and search in particular, the plan commits that chief constables will identify and address disproportionality in the use of stop and search, particularly in relation to searches of children.

Police performance is assessed by HMICFRS, which reviews stop and search as part of its inspection framework. Where misconduct is identified, the Independent Office for Police Conduct can impose sanctions, ensuring poor performance is addressed.

Stop and search disproportionately impacts particular ethnic groups, disparity rates have fallen recently. Last year, Black people were 3.8 times more likely to be stopped and searched than White people, 9.7 times in 2018/19. Data is key to tackling disparities, and the Home Office continues to work with forces to improve the collection and accuracy of ethnicity data. I am also aware that stop and search has the potential to impact young people, their families and educational attainment. We continue to monitor research on police powers to inform policy development.

Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police, and the Government is clear that such searches must only be conducted when absolutely necessary. While there will be circumstances in which such searches are required in order to protect people, prevent harm, or secure evidence, this must be done with full regard for the dignity and welfare of the individual involved, particularly where the individual is a child.

As set out in the Government’s Manifesto, we are committed to introducing new legal safeguards around the strip search of children. We are working closely with policing stakeholders to deliver this commitment.

The Government recognises the importance of transparency in ensuring that police powers, particularly those involving children, are properly used and subject to effective public scrutiny. Data on strip search is published by the Home Office on an annual basis. The latest data can be found here:

Police custody and pre-charge bail, year ending March 2024 - GOV.UK

Stop and search, arrests, and mental health detentions, March 2025 - GOV.UK

We keep this under regular review.