My right honourable friend the Minster for Security, Counter-Terrorism, Crime and Policing (Tony McNulty) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.

I am pleased to announce that today my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer and I are laying before Parliament the annual report of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which will be published today.

This is the fourth annual report from the IPCC. The report covers the work of the IPCC during 2007-08 and includes a discrete chapter on the discharge of its responsibilities in respect of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The report also includes a chapter on deaths during or following police contact, which shows that there were nine fewer fatalities in this period than in 2006-07 and 32 fewer fatalities than in 2004-05.

During this year, the IPCC has made significant improvements in its performance, having set some ambitious targets. I am pleased to see that it is committed to continuing to improve its performance further. In its role as statutory guardian of the complaints system, the IPCC has also in this period carried out a stocktake of how far the current police complaints system has met its original aspirations when it was set up in April 2004; further information will be made available about this in due course.

The IPCC has a key role in increasing confidence in the police complaints system, which will, in turn, impact positively on public confidence in the police.