Review into GMP custody delayed for a third time

Photo: GMCA

Deputy mayor Kate Green

A review into how Greater Manchester Police treats women and girls in custody has been delayed for a third time.

The Baird Review, commissioned by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and deputy mayor Kate Green last summer, will now be published after the general election. Previously, it was expected to be published on 10 June.

The report, led by Dame Vera Baird, was commissioned last summer after a series of allegations were made against GMP from multiple women who came forward to the media. The review was opened out to include other people who had been held by the force in custody.

That created the first delay, meaning the report went from a scheduled publication date of late autumn 2023 to spring 2024. ‘Due diligence’ checks then took longer than anticipated, meaning it was possible that the report would be ready while the mayor’s office was in purdah – the period around an election where public bodies cannot make announcements.

For that reason, publication was delayed until after the 2 May election, with Kate Green naming 10 June as the latest date at the first post-election Greater Manchester Police, Fire, and Crime panel meeting on Tuesday 14 May.

Now, purdah has got in the way again, with publication again delayed until after the general election. A Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) spokesperson said: “We had previously advised that the report from Dame Vera Baird into the experience of people who are arrested and taken into custody by Greater Manchester Police would be published on 10 June 2024.  

“This report is ready to be published but, following the recent announcement of the general election, we are again bound to pre-election restrictions. Therefore, the report will now be published after the election in July.”

No new exact date has been given by the GMCA.

Ethan Davies, Local Democracy Reporter