§ Mr. MansTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he will lay before Parliament the annual report of the Independent Commission for Police Complaints for Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.
§ Sir Patrick MayhewThe report, which is the fourth annual report produced by the Commission since its inception in 1988, has been laid before Parliament today. It reflects the Commission's considerable efforts to maintain and build upon its relationship with both the public and the Police Service. It also continues the essential process of promoting wider understanding of what the Commission is required to do and how it does it by providing detailed and helpful explanations of a number of important aspects of its work. These include how the Commission supervises complaints against the police, its role in disciplinary proceedings following a complaint and the procedure by which relatively minor complaints are resolved informally. It makes clear that, as is right and proper, the police are accountable to the community they serve.
I am grateful to the Commission for all its work. I have no doubt that it will continue to contribute significantly to the enhancement of public confidence in the police. I know it will continue to apply its own high standards of objectivity and impartiality thus ensuring that complaints against the police are thoroughly and fairly investigated. In doing so it will have my fullest support.