Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government has made on reforming pre-charge bail.

The Government plans to reform pre-charge bail through the provisions of chapter 1 of Part 4 of the Policing and Crime Bill, which is currently at Report Stage in the House of Lords.

In the expectation that the Bill will receive Royal Assent early in the new year, we are working closely with the College of Policing to develop guidance which will form part of the College’s Authorised Professional Practice on Detention, Custody and Bail Management. In parallel, we are working with colleagues at the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service to develop Criminal Procedure Rules for use by the courts for pre-charge bail extension hearings.

The Government is also working with the Police, NHS England, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, NHS Wales and the Local Government Association on a series of Memoranda of Understanding to streamline the provision and processing of evidence to enable the police to conclude their investigations within the 28-day initial bail period.