The Virdi Inquiry

02/02
09 January 2002

To announce the publication of the Virdi Inquiry Report , a press conference, led by R. David Muir, Independent Member of the MPA and Chair of the Virdi Inquiry, was held today Wednesday 9 January 2002, at the Metropolitan Police Authority, Romney House, 43 Marsham Street London SW1. The Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Ian Blair, and Mr. and Mrs. Gurpal Virdi also attended.

On 1 September 2000 the MPA announced that an Inquiry would be set up to examine the Met’s case against PS Virdi and the Employment Tribunal findings in relation to the Met’s Discipline Board. R. David Muir was appointed Chair of the Inquiry with a Panel whose members were: Angela Slaven (Deputy Chair), Radhika Bynon, Sir Geoffrey Dear, Nicola Williams, Lord Navnit Dholakia, Ahmed Ramiz and Beverley Thompson. Sue Harper was appointed Senior Policy Advisor to the Inquiry.

The Inquiry’s remit was to make recommendations to the MPA in respect of lessons learned in this case, not to re-investigate events. Established under Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972, the Inquiry had no direct powers and therefore contributions to the Inquiry were made entirely voluntarily. It was also not within the terms of reference to examine the conduct of the Discipline Board or that of the Employment Tribunal.

The Report details the Panel’s examination of the original investigation, the Discipline Board and the Employment Tribunal. It addresses processes relating to Employment Tribunals and grievances, and issues relating to the Police Federation and the Met’s Directorate of Public Affairs. It also looks at concerns around trust and confidence internally within the Met and the organisational learning to result from this case.

David Muir, Chair of the Inquiry said:

“I would like to thank everyone who has voluntarily contributed to this report. Their efforts and experiences will hopefully inform changes in the Met, as well as build and disseminate good practice in the wider police service. 

“We want to continue to develop the positive changes taking place in the Met since the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report. There are undoubtedly significant lessons to be learnt from this case and how such matters should be better conducted in the future.

“The Authority views the Inquiry as an opportunity for the Met to establish the same principles for managing their own staff as they are seeking to apply in their dealings with the general public.”

In conclusion, the report makes a wide range of recommendations directed towards the Metropolitan Police Service, the Home Office, the Metropolitan Police Authority and the Commission for Racial Equality.

In respect of the Metropolitan Police Service the main recommendations are:

• Regulations should be interpreted with common sense and reasonableness in order to eliminate as far as possible unnecessary bureaucracy and unjustified costs.
• Grievance procedures and the administration of Employment Tribunals should be reviewed
• The perceived blame culture within the Met should be addressed
• All appropriate actions arising from these recommendations should be included in the requisite action plan to comply with requirements of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
• Issues arising from the perceived difficulties associated with the Directorate of Legal Services should be tackled
• Good practice identified in the last HMIC Inspection of the Professional Standards Department to be maintained to ensure all staff, regardless of background, have confidence in the grievance procedures.
• Press strategy to be adopted which would deal more effectively with race specific and high profile cases
• Senior officers to monitor and review the implementation by middle and junior managers of the Met’s policies and commitments to equality
• On conclusion of the re-investigation into PS Virdi’s case, which will be supervised by the PCA, any officers deemed to have acted inappropriately should face disciplinary action
• The composition of Representatives of the Police Federation’s Joint Branch Board to be monitored by the Met to ensure that measures are taken to address under representation, especially from ethnic minority groups.

Recommendations made specifically to the Home Office include:

• A review of the Regulatory Framework for police officers to reflect best employment practice, to encourage the use of ‘reasonableness’ and to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy.
• A review of the Regulations in respect of the Police Federation to incorporate a requirement for the constitution of Joint Branch Boards to reflect diversity within the service.

The report recommends the following issues be addressed by the MPA:

• On conclusion of matters between PS Virdi and the Met, the Inquiry Panel should be invited to hear PS Virdi’s submission and to publish a supplementary report
• To require the Met to provide progress reports to the MPA on PS Virdi’s return to duty and that the MPA should further receive an action plan and periodical reports of how the Met are implementing the recommendations of this Inquiry. 
• To monitor all Employment Tribunal cases to assess their impact on financial matters, trust and confidence, and recruitment and retention of visible ethnic minorities.

Finally the report recommends that the Commission for Racial Equality should review quality assurance mechanisms and management practices around caseload, auditing and delivery of an effective and professional service. 

At the time of publication of this report, PS Virdi has not yet returned to work. A major concern therefore for the Inquiry Panel remains that, for legal reasons, it has still not been possible for the key witness, PS Virdi, to offer his evidence in person and be questioned by the Panel. The Panel was able however to draw conclusions from PS Virdi’s written statement. When matters are concluded between the MPS and PS Virdi it is hoped that his evidence will be heard and a supplementary report published.

Notes to editors

1. Copies of the Virdi Inquiry Report will be available to media from 9.30am onwards on the day of the press conference, to be collected from the Romney House, Tufton Street reception area. The Virdi Inquiry Report is available here (see Supporting material).

2. Case History: 

Gurpal Virdi joined the MPS on 10 May 1982. In September 1992 he moved to Ealing Division, where, in November 1992, he was promoted to Sergeant.

On 24 December 1997, 13 officers, including PS Virdi, received racist literature. On 19 January 1998, a number of civil staff received separate racist literature. It appeared that the literature had been generated and sent via the internal mail system. During the investigation that followed a female white officer, PC Batchelor, was questioned and eliminated from the enquiries. On 15 April 1998, PS Virdi was arrested for offences of distributing racist hate mail. 

The Crown Prosecution Service subsequently decided not to proceed with criminal charges, but on 7 February 2000 PS Virdi appeared before a Police Disciplinary Board. On 3 March 2000 he was found guilty and dismissed from the Metropolitan Police Service.

PS Virdi took the Metropolitan Police Service to Employment Tribunal and on 23 August 2000, the Tribunal found that he had been discriminated against on the grounds of his race. PS Virdi subsequently appealed against the decision of the Disciplinary Board and on the 30 November 2000 he was reinstated. At the time of publication of this report he has not returned to work.

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