#SIMPLIFYDG6


ANNUAL REDACTION BURDEN FIXED AT £18 MILLION


On 1 April, Police Federation National Detectives’ Forum Chair Ben Hudson, who is spearheading the #SimplifyDG6 campaign aimed at addressing the burdens of current evidence disclosure guidance, represented PFEW at the Westminister eForum Policy Conference to present views on the implementation of the Data (Use and Access) Bill to usher in much needed reforms in criminal justice delivery


Setting the stage at the session on the Data (Use and Access) Bill at the Westminister eForum Policy Conference, Mr Hudson submitted that the changes to the Director’s Guidance on Charging (sixth edition), which became effective from December 2020, the revised Attorney General’s Guidelines on Disclosure and the revised Criminal


28 | POLICE | APRIL | 2025


Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 Code of Practice, have considerably increased the work the police must do before sending a file to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for a charging decision. For instance, the police must redact all rebuttable presumption material and complete schedules of unused material. Beginning early 2021,


police officers dealing with volume and serious and complex crimes started to report serious concerns about the redaction burden imposed by this new guidance.


Supporting his submission, he said that in October 2023 the Policing Productivity Review reported that investigators spend about 770,000


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