PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
(13 December 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing data on whether illicit objects were found during strip searches (a) in police custody and (b) during police stop and searches by (i) police force and (ii) the (A) age, (B) sex and (C) ethnicity of the person.

Asked by:
Marsha De Cordova (Labour)

Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police. Its use must be fair, respectful, without unlawful discrimination, and transparent. The Government is committed to introducing new legal safeguards around strip searching children.

As part of the Home Office’s Annual Data Requirement, data on strip searches which take place in custody is collected and published on an annual basis online at gov.uk:

Other PACE powers, year ending March 2023 (second edition) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

This custody data includes the number of strip searches carried out, as well as the age, sex and ethnicity of persons searched. For the 2024/25 custody data collection, forces will be required to record the reasonable grounds for search during a strip search. However, the data does not currently include data on the outcome of the search, and this is something the Home Office will consider collecting in future years.

Since April 2023, the Home Office has also collected data on the extent of clothing removal in stop and searches, allowing analysis of strip searches under stop and search powers. This includes publishing for the first time in September 2024 a breakdown by the sex, age and ethnicity of the person strip searched following the stop and search encounter. Home Office statistics on stop and search includes data on the outcome of the search, including the grounds for the search and whether the outcome of the search was linked to the grounds, which allows analysis of items found.

Information on the levels of stop and search is available at gov.uk:

Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Data on the level of clothing removal during stop and search is labelled as ‘Official Statistics in development’ to denote its collection on a voluntary basis and ongoing quality improvements to the data.

Answered by:
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1 January 1970