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A flagship police plan to combat racism within its ranks in England and Wales has failed to spend almost a third of its budget since its inception, in a revelation the National Black Police Association has branded “shocking”, with campaigners labelling the shortfall “beyond bewildering”.
The Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) was announced by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) in 2020 amid concerns about community relations in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in May of that year by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin which ignited the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide.
The plan is described as “the biggest coordinated effort ever across every police force in England and Wales to improve trust and confidence in policing among Black communities”.
Black people are disproportionately represented in stop and search, use of force, and strip searches and are more than twice as likely to be arrested as white people. In August, a report by the Children’s Commissioner revealed black children are four times more likely to be strip-searched than white children.
A statement about the anti-racism programme on the NPCC website, says: “Policing is determined to become an anti-racist organisation that actively roots out bias and discrimination from our ranks.”
The plan has received funding top-sliced from police force budgets since 2021, and a central team was set up to lead its actions.
According to figures released to Byline Times under the Official Information Act, the PRAP team was unable to spend almost £1.8 million of the £6 million in funding it was allocated between 2021-2024.
The amount left unspent more than doubled between 2021/22 and 2023/24.
National Black Police Association (NBPA) president Andy George told this newspaper that the figures show the strategy has not been taken seriously by police leaders.
George said it was “shocking so much money has been handed back when there is so much work to be done”. He added: “It shows why there’s been a lack of progress and why our members actually feel that things have gotten worse over the last four years.
“The plan was designed to improve the experiences of policing for Black people, but we just haven’t seen that happen.”
In recent months, the NBPA has suspended its support for the plan, and called for those from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic background not to join the Metropolitan Police. It accused the London force of targeting the chair of the Met’s Black Police Association with a vexatious misconduct complaint.
This newspaper has also recently highlighted calls for an independent review into the Met’s North Area Basic Command which has been plagued by incidents of racism, and data showing Black and Minority Ethnic Met employees are four times more likely to quit due to harassment and bullying than their white colleagues.
George said the returned money could have been used to help the NBPA support its members or fund research into disproportionality in stop and search or the police misconduct system.
The 2023 Casey Review found Black officers were 81% more likely to be disciplined than their white colleagues.
Abimbola Johnson, a barrister who chairs the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board which was set up by the NPCC to monitor the work of the Police Race Action Plan, said the situation is “frustrating”.
“One of the reasons that we were given as for why certain things weren’t being done was that the programme didn’t have the resources, but obviously there was quite a significant underspend.
“There are lots of meaningful things the money could have been diverted to.”
Johnson said the plan has been run under a “cumbersome structure” with those involved finding it difficult to use their initiative because they had to wade through several levels of bureaucracy to get actions approved.
This has resulted in situations like community engagement events being held in remote police training buildings, where attendees were required to be vetted before they were allowed in, she said.
Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent East, said she would write to the NPCC about the under-spend revealed by this newspaper.
“It’s a surprise the money hasn’t been spent, because obviously there is a need within the community. I can think off the top of my head of at least half a dozen organisations that would be able to help, and I would more than happily help the police ensure that they have a sustainable and worthwhile race action plan”, she said.
Jodie Bradshaw, policy advocacy lead at campaign group StopWatch, said the latest report from the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board shows that even the money that has been spent is not delivering.
“From ‘tick box’ consultation exercises to failing to record data on racial disproportionality in misconduct processes and suspicionless searches, it is difficult to believe that this time and money has been put to good use.
“If the Children’s Commissioner’s report on the strip