The Crime and Policing Bill resumed its report stage in the House of Lords on Wednesday, with peers returning to the government’s wide-ranging criminal justice legislation to consider amendments on police vehicle escorts, child cruelty offences and the handling of police misconduct cases.
Day five of the Bill’s Lords report stage also covers proposals on face coverings while cycling, police powers to stop keyless and electric vehicles, notification requirements for people convicted of child cruelty offences and whether misconduct matters involving acquitted officers can be revisited.
Report stage is one of the final opportunities for peers to scrutinise the Bill in detail, table amendments and vote on changes before it moves towards its remaining Lords stages. Six report days have been scheduled between 25 February and 18 March.
The legislation is one of the broadest law-and-order measures of the Parliament. It contains provisions on anti-social behaviour, knife crime, violence against women and girls, child sexual abuse, retail crime and police powers. Ministers have presented it as a central part of the government’s “Safer Streets Mission”, which includes a pledge to cut knife crime and violence against women and girls over the next decade and to improve confidence in policing.
Among the issues under discussion on Wednesday are amendments on the regulation of police escorts for vehicles and trailers, an area linked to abnormal loads and, in some cases, private escort arrangements. The debate is expected to focus on how far the law should set clearer rules on safety, oversight and liability.
Peers are also examining child protection measures, including proposals that would place notification requirements on offenders convicted of child cruelty offences. That debate sits alongside broader child abuse provisions already in the Bill, including the introduction of mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse by certain professionals, a change tied to recommendations made by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Another key area is police accountability. Amendments before the Lords seek to clarify when misconduct cases involving officers can be reopened or reconsidered, including in circumstances where an officer has previously been acquitted in criminal proceedings. The Bill already includes wider reforms intended to stop officers dismissed for misconduct, including from specialist forces and the National Crime Agency, from securing roles elsewhere in policing.
The Bill began in the House of Commons on 25 February 2025, had its second reading on 10 March that year and completed its Commons stages in June before moving to the Lords. Committee stage in the upper chamber ran from November 2025 to February 2026, with report stage beginning on 25 February.
The Lords has already made a series of changes during earlier report stage debates. On 9 March, peers held nine divisions and agreed amendments covering non-consensual intimate images, safeguards against the re-uploading of such material, offences related to software capable of generating nude images, pornographic step-incest images, age and permission verification for pornography websites and the extension of certain child abuse image offences where the person depicted is now an adult. Other proposed changes, including some linked to artificial intelligence and enforcement of mandatory reporting, were rejected.
On the first day of report stage, peers also backed amendments on fixed penalty notices, fly-tipping and offensive weapons, including measures to prevent financial gain from issuing fixed penalty notices, impose personal liability for fly-tipping and increase the maximum sentence for possessing an offensive weapon.
A further report stage day is scheduled for 18 March. If peers continue to amend the Bill, it will return to the House of Commons after completing its Lords stages so MPs can consider the changes before the legislation can move towards Royal Assent.
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