Modules

As well as the tranche system, to help it meet its Terms of Reference the Undercover Policing Inquiry has also divided its investigation into three ‘modules’ which it defines as:

• Module 1 – Examination of the deployment of undercover officers in the past, their conduct, and the impact of their activities on themselves and others.
• Module 2 – Examination of the management and oversight of undercover officers, including their selection, training, supervision, care after the end of an undercover deployment, and the legal and regulatory framework within which undercover policing was carried out. 
  • Module 2(a) will involve managers and administrators from within undercover policing units. 
  • Module 2(b) will involve senior managers higher in the chain of command as well as police personnel who handled intelligence provided by undercover police officers.
  • Module 2(c) will involve a number of other government bodies with a connection to undercover policing, including the Home Office.
• Module 3 – Examination of current undercover policing practices and of how undercover policing should be conducted in future.

Modules 1 and 2 are effectively running concurrently as the managers of the Special Demonstration Squad and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit are being heard in the respective hearings for the tranches. In Tranche 1, the undercovers were heard in Phases 1 and 2, while the managers gave evidence in Phase 3. For Tranche 2, the evidence from managers is scheduled to take place at the end of Phase 2 at the end of 2024. Tranche 1

As part of the procedural and preliminary work of the Inquiry, it created various lists of relevant issues for each module and period to inform the questions asked of witnesses whether through Rule 9 Requests or at evidential hearings.