His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), formerly Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC), has statutory responsibility for the inspection of the police forces of England and Wales, and since July 2017 the fire and rescue services of England. HMICFRS is headed by the Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Chief Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services. It has taken over the responsibilities of His Majesty's Fire Service Inspectorate. Inspections may also be made, by invitation only, and on a non-statutory basis, of the

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it ...

and other organisations with policing responsibility.

England and Wales

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...

, HMICFRS is responsible to the

UK Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

. The first inspectors were appointed under the

County and Borough Police Act 1856 The County and Borough Police Act 1856The citation of this act by this short title was authorised by the Short Titles Act 1896, section 1 and the first schedule. Due to the repeal of those provisions it is now authorised by section 19(2) of the ...

; current statutory functions are contained in the

Police Act 1996 The Police Act 1996 (c. 16) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which defined the current police areas in England and Wales, constituted Police Authority, police authorities for those areas, and set out the re ...

and related legislation. However, the body's principal statutory functions are unchanged since its establishment in 1856, namely to assess and report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces in England and Wales. In July 2017, its remit was expanded to include responsibility to assess and report on the efficiency, effectiveness and leadership of the 45 Fire & Rescue services in England. The inspectorate is also paid by other departments to report on the activities of non-

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

bodies involved in law enforcement, such as the

British Transport Police British Transport Police (BTP; ) is a national special police force that polices the railway network of England, Wales and Scotland, which consists of over 10,000 miles of track and 3,000 stations and depots. BTP also polices the London Under ...

, the

Civil Nuclear Constabulary The Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC) (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Heddlu Sifil Niwclear'') is a Special police#United Kingdom, special police force responsible for providing law enforcement agency, law enforcement and security at any relevant nuclea ...

HM Revenue and Customs His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (commonly HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, and formerly Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) is a department of the UK government responsible for the collection of taxes, the payment of some forms of stat ...

, the

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a Law enforcement agency#natlea, national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; Human trafficking, human, Arms trafficking, weapon and Illegal drug t ...

, the

and some overseas police forces. Reporting has also been performed on a voluntary basis for the

Special Investigation Branch Special Investigation Branch (SIB) was the name given to the detective branches of all three British military police arms: the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police. It was most closely associated with the Royal ...

(SIB) of the

Royal Military Police The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations ...

. It also receives funding from the Treasury for its work on HMRC. As a public authority, decisions and actions of HMICFRS are susceptible to

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which a government's executive, legislative, or administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. In a judicial review, a court may invalidate laws, acts, or governmental actions that are in ...

Personnel

HM Chief Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services is Andy Cooke, former chief constable of

Merseyside Police Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police o ...

, who was appointed in April 2022. His predecessor was the lawyer and former rail regulator

Tom Winsor Sir Thomas Philip Winsor (born 7 December 1957) is a British arbitrator and mediator, lawyer, consultant and economic regulatory professional. Between 1 October 2012 and 31 March 2022, he served as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabular ...

, who took office on 1 October 2012 as the first chief inspector to be appointed from outside the police service. Before Winsor, the chief inspector was former

Surrey Police Surrey Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the Counties of England, county of Surrey in South East England. The force is currently led by Chief Constable Tim De Meyer. The force has its headquarters at Mount Brown ...

Chief Constable Sir Denis O'Connor, in post from 2008 until his retirement in 2012. In addition to the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, there are three Inspectors of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services: Roy Wilsher, former chief fire officer in Hertfordshire;

Matt Parr Rear Admiral Matthew John Parr, (born 20 August 1962) is a retired Royal Navy officer who has served as Commander Operations and Rear Admiral, Submarines and is currently an Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. Early life and ...

, formerly a Rear-Admiral in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

; and Wendy Williams, formerly Chief Crown Prosecutor of

CPS Direct The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

. Appointments follow the Code of Practice of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

Northern Ireland

Inspections of the

(PSNI) have been made in recent years by invitation, on a non-statutory basis. The

Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...

allows HMIC to perform inspection and assessment of services or projects by direction of the

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The secretary of state for Northern Ireland (; ), also referred to as Northern Ireland Secretary or SoSNI, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the Northern Ireland Office. The offi ...

. At the request of the chief constable of the PSNI, in 2013 the inspectorate published a report into Northern Ireland's

Historical Enquiries Team The Historical Enquiries Team was a unit of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) set up in September 2005 to investigate the 3,269 unsolved murders committed during the Troubles, specifically between 1968 and 1998. It was wound up in S ...

List of chief inspectors

Inspectors of Constabulary for England and Wales from 1856: * Captain Francis J. Parry, to 1900 * Captain Herbert D. Terry, from 1900 The first chief inspector was appointed in 1962. # Sir William Johnson, 19621963 # Sir Edward Dodd, 19631966 # Colonel Sir Eric St Johnston, 19671970 # Sir John McKay, 19701972 # Sir John Hill, 19721975 # Sir James Haughton, 19761977 # Sir

Colin Woods Sir Colin Philip Joseph Woods (20 April 1920 – 27 January 2001) was an English police officer in the London Metropolitan Police who was also the first Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, from 1979 to 1982. Born in London, Woo ...

, 19771979 # Sir James Crane, 19791982 # Sir

Lawrence Byford Sir Lawrence Byford (10 August 1925 – 10 February 2018) was an English police officer who served as Chief Inspector of Constabulary from 1983 to 1987. His inquiry into the failings of the Yorkshire Ripper investigation by West Yorkshire Pol ...

, 19831987 # Sir Richard Barrett, 19871990 # Sir John Woodcock, 19901993 # Sir Trefor Morris, 19931996 # Sir David O'Dowd, 19962001 # Sir Keith Povey 20022005 # Sir Ronnie Flanagan, 20052009 # Sir Denis O'Connor, 20092012 # Sir Thomas Winsor, 20122022 # Sir

Andy Cooke Andrew Roy Cooke (born 20 January 1974) is an English former footballer, who played as a striker for Newtown, Burnley, Stoke City, Busan I'Cons (South Korea), Bradford City, Darlington and Shrewsbury Town. Career Born in Shrewsbury, Shrops ...

, 2022present In July 2017, the role became Chief Inspector of Constabulary and Chief Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services. The incumbent is Andy Cooke, who was appointed in April 2022.

2021 protest report

In March 2021, HMICFRS published a report that endorsed a proposed clampdown on protests. In response to the report, a

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

alleged that its authors had reached conclusions favouring the government's view prior to gathering and assessing evidence, in breach of the civil service code.

References

External links

* 1856 establishments in England 1856 establishments in Wales Home Office (United Kingdom) Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government {{DEFAULTSORT:His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services

England and Wales

Personnel

Northern Ireland

List of chief inspectors

2021 protest report

See also

References

External links