Letter from Dame Anne Owers, Chair, Independent Police Complaints Commission, to the Chair of the Committee, 4 May 2016

Re: Racial discrimination within Cleveland Police

I am writing in relation to the oral evidence session on Tuesday 12 April at which the Home Affairs Committee took evidence on police diversity. During this session, Janet Hills, President of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), and Ranil Jayawardena MP raised concerns in relation to allegations of racial discrimination within Cleveland Police. In light of the comments made by Ms Hills and Mr Jayawardena, I thought it might be helpful to inform you of our involvement in the case of PC Nadeem Saddique which was mentioned during evidence to the Committee.

In response to question 8, Ms Hills raised a case in Cleveland Police which she stated was “referred” to the IPCC by the NBPA.  I believe this is the case of PC Nadeem Saddique who successfully pursued an employment tribunal claim against Cleveland police which concluded on 25 November 2015. Mr Jayawardena also mentioned the case of PC Saddique during his questioning of Chief Constable Dee Collins.  The IPCC is currently independently investigating conduct matters which were referred to it by Cleveland police on 20 January 2016 following the conclusion of the employment tribunal.  This investigation is ongoing.

Concerns in relation to the treatment of PC Saddique were initially raised with us by the then president of the NBPA, Ms Franstine Jones, who wrote to Dame Anne Owers on 27 May 2014.  As you will be aware the IPCC does not currently have the ability to commence investigations on its own initiative – though the Government are seeking to remedy this in legislation currently before the House.  Consequently we obtained consent from PC Saddique to forward the complaint to Cleveland Police for them to make a recording decision.  The IPCC received a referral of issues relating to racial discrimination against PC Saddique only after the conclusion of his employment tribunal.

The IPCC received in total eight referrals regarding discrimination issues in Cleveland Police between November 2015 and April 2016.  We are investigating two of these cases independently (one of them is the case of PC Saddique referred to above.) The remaining six cases have been returned to Cleveland Police for local investigation.

We are aware of ongoing concerns regarding racial discrimination in Cleveland Police and the IPCC Commissioner with responsibility for matters relating to the force has been in discussion with senior officers regarding how best to progress these matters. I will, of course, be happy to keep the Committee updated on the case of Mr Saddique.

I hope that this information is helpful to you.

Dame Anne Owers

Chair

Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC)