Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her oral statement of 17 January on Police Conduct and David Carrick, Official Report, column 179, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring that an outside police force investigates the cases involving Metropolitan officers and staff accused of domestic violence or sexual abuse.

Domestic abuse and sexual violence are devastating crimes and victims should have confidence that all reports are taken seriously and cases handled effectively.

Any allegation of serious assault or sexual offences must, by law, be referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) under the mandatory referral criteria.

In July 2022, HMICFRS, the IOPC and the College of Policing published their report into a super-complaint about the police response to police-perpetrated domestic abuse (PPDA). The report recommends that all forces ensure PPDA allegations are investigated by someone with no prior connection to any of those involved in the allegations. The NPCC has since confirmed that all forces have accepted relevant recommendations in the report.