With Christmas just around the corner, the political news flow in Westminster has slowed to a trickle. However, a few significant policy announcements have emerged, focusing on support for vulnerable young people and a major proposed overhaul of how police record hate incidents.
Enhanced Support for Young Care Leavers
The government has announced a new plan to support young adults leaving the care system in England. From today, care leavers will be entitled to free NHS prescriptions, as well as free dental check-ups and eye tests, until their 25th birthday. This initiative aims to ease the financial burden on some of society's most vulnerable young people as they transition to independent living.
Children's Minister Josh MacAlister has been conducting a series of media interviews this morning to promote the policy. The move has been broadly welcomed as a practical step to improve the health outcomes and life chances for care leavers.
Major Police Recording Overhaul Proposed
In a separate development, police chiefs are preparing to scrap the recording of 'non-crime hate incidents' (NCHIs). According to a report in The Telegraph, the College of Policing will present plans to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood next month to abolish the current system.
Lord Herbert, the former Tory policing minister who now chairs the College of Policing, confirmed the shift. He stated: "NCHIs will go as a concept. That system will be scrapped and replaced with a completely different system. There will be no recording of anything like it on crime databases." He described the planned change as a "sea change" in policing approach.
The current system originated from a recommendation in Sir William Macpherson's 1999 report into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, which urged police to record all racist incidents. Lord Herbert argues the framework is now "not fit for purpose" due to the rise of social media and smartphones, drawing officers into monitoring offensive but non-criminal online speech.
New System to Focus on Serious Behaviour
Under the proposed new model, officers would not log hate speech incidents on formal crime databases. Instead, such reports would be treated as intelligence. Police would also use a "common sense" checklist to ensure they only intervene in cases of serious anti-social behaviour.
This reform aligns with repeated statements from ministers, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Mahmood, who have urged police to concentrate on issues that matter most to the public. Mahmood has previously emphasised that officers must distinguish between content that is merely "offensive, rude, ill-mannered" and that which constitutes incitement to violence or hatred.
The Telegraph reports that the College of Policing's plans are likely to be accepted by the Home Office. Lord Herbert cautioned that the police must be careful "not to throw the baby out with the bathwater", acknowledging that some officers find value in tracking behaviour that may escalate.
In other news, the government has confirmed that some former mineworkers will see their pensions increase by £100 per week. This boost results from a change to the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme announced in the last budget.
Meanwhile, the Reform UK party is facing criticism over its proposal to drastically reduce the UK's aid budget. The party's plan to cap spending at £1bn would represent a 90% cut, which charities and political opponents warn would damage Britain's international influence and risk its standing within global bodies like the UN and World Bank.
