Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to protect the welfare of vulnerable people in custody.

Last year, I commissioned Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary to carry out a review of vulnerable people in custody. Last week’s report was concerning, particularly regarding the use of Taser and restraint.

I have therefore asked HMIC to specifically inspect the use of Taser and restraint. I am also suspending the publication of Taser data after work to review it revealed serious concerns about its accuracy. We need much greater transparency of age, ethnicity and outcome data of Taser incidents