§ Mr. WicksTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether anything exists in police codes of conduct to forbid officers passing on confidential information to third parties, including the media, whether for payment or not, during investigations into suspicious deaths; how often these codes have been breached in this respect in the last five years; how many officers have been disciplined or suspended; and what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the codes in this regard.
§ Mr. Charles WardleThe police discipline code is contained in schedule 1 of the Police (Discipline) Regulations 1985—S.1.1985/518. Paragraph 6 of the code creates a disciplinary offence of improper disclosure of information which occurs, inter alia, when a member of a police force without proper authority communicates to any person, any information which he has in his possession as a member of a police force. Punishments for breaching the code include dismissal from the force. I have no reason to think that the provisions of the code are inadequate in this regard. Where money or other consideration has been accepted, the possibility would also arise that the common law offence of bribery had been committed.
Figures are not collected centrally about the categories of offences leading to disciplinary proceedings.