The Government recognises the important role that Appropriate Adults play in safeguarding the rights and welfare of children and vulnerable adults within the criminal justice system, ensuring they are treated fairly and able to participate effectively in police processes.

Appropriate Adult services are delivered locally through a range of partnership arrangements, including local authorities, police and crime commissioners and voluntary sector organisations, enabling provision to reflect local need and demand.

The Home Office provides grant funding to support Appropriate Adult services, including through funding to the National Appropriate Adult Network

The Government is committed to upholding the safeguards set out in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its Codes of Practice, which requires that children and vulnerable adults are supported by an Appropriate Adult during police interactions.

The Police And Criminal Evidence (PACE) Codes of Practice provide a definition of a vulnerable person. In summary, it includes adults who may have difficulty understanding the full implications of their arrest, detention, voluntary attendance for interview or the exercise of their rights. A detainee who is classified as vulnerable must be supported by an appropriate adult when they are detained in police custody or have attended a location voluntarily for an interview. The appropriate adult is expected to support, advise and assist the detainee when they are asked to provide information or participate in custody procedures.

The College of Policing has included guidance on responding to incidents involving people experiencing mental illness and learning disabilities. Introduction and strategic considerations | College of Policing . This includes a National Autistic Society guide from criminal justice professionals who may come into contact with people on the autism spectrum – as victims, witnesses, suspects or offenders.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council have established a National Neurodiversity Working Group whose work includes supporting police forces to design and deliver a service to be proud of relating to neurodivergent victims, witnesses, suspects, and residents. They have also produced an e-learning course and a glossary of terms on neurodiversity, which are available to all police officers.

Data on people, including children, detained in police custody were collected for the first time for the year ending March 2022. Information was also requested on the number of minutes taken for an Appropriate Adult (AA) to arrive.

As this was the first year of data collection, information collected on the number of minutes for an AA to arrive was limited and of poor quality. As such, these data were not published as part of the ‘Police, Powers and Procedures: Other PACE, year ending March 2022’ publication.

The police custody data published on GOV.UK are based on a subset of 26 out of 43 territorial police forces and are labelled as Experimental statistics due to data quality issues, therefore should be interpreted with caution

An assessment will be made later on this year on the quality of the data received for the year ending March 2023 and whether it will be fit for publication.

The Home Office part funds the National Association of Appropriate Adults (NAAN), which supports organisations providing appropriate adult services to young people and vulnerable adults in police custody. We regularly engage with the NAAN to discuss the provision of training to Appropriate Adults across England and Wales.

The national standards are developed and published by NAAN. More information regarding standards and training can be found at https://www.appropriateadult.org.uk/. The standards are approved by the Youth Justice Board, Association of Directors of Adult Social Services and the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. They were developed in consultation with the Home Office.

The Government published the Concordat on Children in Custody in 2017 which clearly sets out the statutory duties of the police and local authorities and provides a protocol for how transfers of children from custody to local authority accommodation should work in practice. We are clear that children should only be detained in custody when absolutely necessary and where there are opportunities to divert children away from custody, these must be considered.

The Government is supporting Local Authorities to meet their statutory duty and to ensure there is sufficient provision in their area through capital investment. The 2021 Spending Review announced £259 million of capital funding to maintain capacity and expand provision in both secure and open children’s homes. This will provide high quality, safe homes for some of our most vulnerable children and young people and create new places and support provision in secure children’s homes in all nine regions of England.

The Home Department does not collect data on the type or status of the person who acted as an Appropriate Adult. Our Police Powers and Procedures bulletin found that for children who were detained in police custody, an AA was called in 99% of cases.

We part fund the National Association of Appropriate Adults (NAAN), which supports organisations providing appropriate adult services to young people and vulnerable adults in police custody and regularly engage with NAAN to discuss the provision of training to Appropriate Adults across England and Wales. More information can be found at https://www.appropriateadult.org.uk/.

The Home Office part funds the National Association of Appropriate Adults (NAAN), which supports organisations providing appropriate adult services to young people and vulnerable adults in police custody. More information regarding standards and training can be found at https://www.appropriateadult.org.uk/. We regularly engage with the NAAN to discuss the provision of training to Appropriate Adults across England and Wales.

There is ongoing academic research on the detention and questioning of children and young people being carried out by the Nuffield Foundation. We await the final recommendations from this report. The Government maintains that children should only be detained in custody as a last resort and any opportunities to divert children away from custody should be taken. Detailed police custody data was published for the first time on 17 November 2022 in the Police Powers and Procedures Bulletin. This data provides more transparency on children in custody.

At this stage it does not include data on looked after children. However, we recognise specific concerns around children in custody who are recognised as a vulnerable group. We published the Concordat on Children in Custody in 2017 which clearly sets out the statutory duties of the police and local authorities and provides a protocol for how transfers of children from custody to local authority accommodation should work in practice.

The Government is clear that children should only be detained in custody when absolutely necessary and where there are opportunities to divert children away from custody, these must be considered.

The collection and publication of data on police custody will bring additional transparency and accountability to custody in England and Wales and help us better understand how and why police powers and procedures are used within the custody process. The Home Office only received data from a subset of forces so the findings should be interpreted with caution as it is partial and not representative of the national picture. We will work with police forces and the NPCC to improve data quality in the future and use the data published on 17 November to inform conversations with the police and other stakeholders to promote wider policy development.

All data collections are reviewed each year by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure that the amount of data requested from the police is proportionate and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested. We will be considering the feasibility of collecting data on the period of time between a child being detained in police custody, an Appropriate Adult first being in attendance and the average time taken for an AA to arrive.

Police custody is a core element of the criminal justice system and is critical for keeping the public safe. Children should only be detained in custody as a last resort and any opportunities to divert children away from custody should be taken. The data published on 17 November suggests that children were more likely to be detained in custody for robbery offences, possession of weapons offences and theft offences and less likely to be in custody for non-notifiable offences. It is positive to see that the number of children in police custody has decreased significantly, by 84%, over the last 10 years.

We hold regular discussions with policing and wider stakeholders on the availability of Appropriate Adults and custody policy in general. The data published on 17 November shows that, for the forces who provided data to us, an Appropriate Adult was called for 99% of children in custody. We expect forces to act in accordance with the statutory safeguards for children in custody, including the provision of appropriate adults. Procedures in custody are subject to independent scrutiny and oversight by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. We expect forces to take recommendations from HMICFRS seriously and act in response to them.

The collection and publication of data on police custody will bring additional transparency and accountability to custody in England and Wales and help us better understand how and why police powers and procedures are used within the custody process. The Home Office only received data from a subset of forces so the findings should be interpreted with caution as it is partial and not representative of the national picture. We will work with police forces and the NPCC to improve data quality in the future and use the data published on 17 November to inform conversations with the police and other stakeholders to promote wider policy development.

All data collections are reviewed each year by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure that the amount of data requested from the police is proportionate and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested. We will be considering the feasibility of collecting data on the period of time between a child being detained in police custody, an Appropriate Adult first being in attendance and the average time taken for an AA to arrive.

Police custody is a core element of the criminal justice system and is critical for keeping the public safe. Children should only be detained in custody as a last resort and any opportunities to divert children away from custody should be taken. The data published on 17 November suggests that children were more likely to be detained in custody for robbery offences, possession of weapons offences and theft offences and less likely to be in custody for non-notifiable offences. It is positive to see that the number of children in police custody has decreased significantly, by 84%, over the last 10 years.

We hold regular discussions with policing and wider stakeholders on the availability of Appropriate Adults and custody policy in general. The data published on 17 November shows that, for the forces who provided data to us, an Appropriate Adult was called for 99% of children in custody. We expect forces to act in accordance with the statutory safeguards for children in custody, including the provision of appropriate adults. Procedures in custody are subject to independent scrutiny and oversight by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. We expect forces to take recommendations from HMICFRS seriously and act in response to them.

The collection and publication of data on police custody will bring additional transparency and accountability to custody in England and Wales and help us better understand how and why police powers and procedures are used within the custody process. The Home Office only received data from a subset of forces so the findings should be interpreted with caution as it is partial and not representative of the national picture. We will work with police forces and the NPCC to improve data quality in the future and use the data published on 17 November to inform conversations with the police and other stakeholders to promote wider policy development.

All data collections are reviewed each year by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) to ensure that the amount of data requested from the police is proportionate and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested. We will be considering the feasibility of collecting data on the period of time between a child being detained in police custody, an Appropriate Adult first being in attendance and the average time taken for an AA to arrive.

Police custody is a core element of the criminal justice system and is critical for keeping the public safe. Children should only be detained in custody as a last resort and any opportunities to divert children away from custody should be taken. The data published on 17 November suggests that children were more likely to be detained in custody for robbery offences, possession of weapons offences and theft offences and less likely to be in custody for non-notifiable offences. It is positive to see that the number of children in police custody has decreased significantly, by 84%, over the last 10 years.

We hold regular discussions with policing and wider stakeholders on the availability of Appropriate Adults and custody policy in general. The data published on 17 November shows that, for the forces who provided data to us, an Appropriate Adult was called for 99% of children in custody. We expect forces to act in accordance with the statutory safeguards for children in custody, including the provision of appropriate adults. Procedures in custody are subject to independent scrutiny and oversight by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. We expect forces to take recommendations from HMICFRS seriously and act in response to them.

The collection and publication of data on police custody will bring additional transparency and accountability to custody in England and Wales and help us better understand how and why police powers and procedures are used within the custody process. The Home Office only received data from a subset of forces so the findings should be interpreted with caution as it is partial and not representative of the national picture. We will work with police forces and the NPCC to improve data quality in the future and use the data published on 17 November to inform conversations with the police and other stakeholders to promote wider policy development.

The police custody data collection became mandatory for 2022/23. From April 2023, Home Office will request data from forces and then assess the quality of the data which will help inform future decisions made by the Policing Data Requirement Group (PDRG) as to whether the collection remains mandatory. All data collections are reviewed each year by the PDRG to ensure that data requested from the police is proportionate to the need for the data and that forces have the technical capabilities to provide the data requested.

There is a formal definition of vulnerability which police officers are expected to use to determine vulnerability of adults in police custody. It is set out in paragraph 1.13 (d) of Code C to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE). Custody officers should therefore carry out vulnerability assessments of everyone in custody in line with this definition.

Section 3.15 of PACE Code C requires the custody officer to secure an appropriate adult for any vulnerable adult detained in police custody.

Strip search is an important policing tool that can help the police recover concealed drugs, weapons or other items which may cause harm to themselves or the person being searched. Strip search is one of the most intrusive powers available to the police and its use must be fair, respectful and without unlawful discrimination. No one should be strip searched based on any protected characteristics including race, sex, and age. Any use of strip search should be carried out in accordance with the law and with full regard for the welfare and dignity of the individual being searched, particularly if that individual is a child.

The collection and publication of this data will bring additional transparency and accountability to police custody in England and Wales and help us better understand how and why police powers and procedures are used within the custody process. The Home Office only received data from a subset of forces so the findings should be interpreted with caution as it is partial and not representative of the national picture. We will work with police forces and the NPCC to improve data quality in the future and use the data published on 17 November to inform conversations with the police and other stakeholders to promote wider policy development.

Children who are charged and denied bail must be transferred to local authority accommodation unless it is impracticable to do so. We expect forces and local authorities to work together to facilitate this in line with the provisions of the Concordat on Children in Custody.

We are pleased to note that in 99% of cases an appropriate adult was called for a child detained in police custody but concerns remain that only in 41% cases was an appropriate adult called for a vulnerable adult. We acknowledge that appropriate adult provision for vulnerable adults needs to improve and will look towards both the police and local authorities to work together to improve in this area.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility for the provision of appropriate adults for children who must be provided an appropriate adult when detained in police custody.

Adults identified as vulnerable must be supported in custody by an Appropriate Adult. The 2018 PCC-Local Authority Partnership was introduced to improve the planning and delivery of appropriate adult services.

The collection and publication of this data will bring additional transparency and accountability to police custody in England and Wales and help us better understand how and why police powers and procedures are used within the custody process. The Home Office only received data from a subset of forces so the findings should be interpreted with caution as it is partial and not representative of the national picture. We will work with police forces and the NPCC to improve data quality in the future and use the data published on 17 November to inform conversations with the police and other stakeholders to promote wider policy development.

Children who are charged and denied bail must be transferred to local authority accommodation unless it is impracticable to do so. We expect forces and local authorities to work together to facilitate this in line with the provisions of the Concordat on Children in Custody.

We are pleased to note that in 99% of cases an appropriate adult was called for a child detained in police custody but concerns remain that only in 41% cases was an appropriate adult called for a vulnerable adult. We acknowledge that appropriate adult provision for vulnerable adults needs to improve and will look towards both the police and local authorities to work together to improve in this area.

Local authorities have a statutory responsibility for the provision of appropriate adults for children who must be provided an appropriate adult when detained in police custody.

Adults identified as vulnerable must be supported in custody by an Appropriate Adult. The 2018 PCC-Local Authority Partnership was introduced to improve the planning and delivery of appropriate adult services.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The information requested is not held centrally.