Police Reform Bill – update report

Report: 09a
Date: 25 April 2002
By: Clerk

Summary

This report provides an update on the passage of the Police Reform Bill. The Bill is due to complete its stages through the House of Lords this week and will then pass to the House of Commons for further discussion and amendment. There have been a number of amendments accepted by the Government which affect the role of police authorities and these are detailed below. Further discussion is likely to take place on certain of the provisions of the Bill which have the potential to increase the role of the Home Office in the management of forces.

A. Recommendations

1. that members note the report
2. that members request further updates during the passage of the Bill through the House of Commons
3. that a paper on the Authority's future role in crime and disorder reduction partnerships come to a future meeting of the full Authority.

B. Supporting information

1. The Police Reform Bill completed its Committee Stage in the House of Lords on 12 March. The Report Stage of the Bill took place on 15 and 16 April and Third Reading is due on 25 April.

2. In its response to the government's White Paper on Police Reform the Authority expressed strong concerns about the extent to which the police authority role was apparently marginalised as part of the increased centralisation of policing, with enhanced powers for the Home Secretary to intervene in the day to day management of forces. These concerns were widely echoed across all police authorities, and set out in the corporate Association of Police Authorities (APA) response to the White Paper.

3. Since the Bill was introduced in the House of Lords the APA has been lobbying to have many of the individual provisions which did not adequately recognise the role of the police authority and the importance of the local input amended. As a result of their intensive activity, backed up with Fionnuala Gill's briefings for individual members of the House, the Government tabled at Report Stage a number of amendments which go a long way towards redressing the balance of the governance which had been threatened by the Bill as originally introduced.

4. The key changes secured as a result of the APA's activities include

• limitations on the Home Secretary's power to give directions to police authorities to take remedial action;
• statutory requirements on the Home Secretary to consult the APA, representing police authorities, on a whole range of measures. The Bill as introduced did not envisage police authority involvement in such important matters as the drafting of the National Policing Plan and the introduction of guidance which would be mandatory on police forces;
• police authorities to become statutory partners in local crime and disorder reduction partnerships.

5. The APA's briefing note analysing the Government's amendments and setting out areas where concerns still remains about the involvement of police authorities, is attached as appendix 1 to this paper. This was prepared before the Report Stage, during which the government was defeated on Clause 5 of the Bill, which would give the Home Secretary powers to give directions to chief officers where the force or part of the force is seen to be failing. These directions would be mandatory. The APA, largely supported by ACPO, argued that the government modifications to the original proposal, although an improvement, did not address the fundamental issue of the shift of accountability from the local to the national, allowing the Home Secretary to intervene directly in the management of forces and BCUs. The government has signalled its intention to reinstate Clause 5 during Commons' consideration of the Bill.

6. Members will want in particular to examine the implications for the MPA of becoming "responsible authorities" in crime and disorder reduction partnerships (CDRPs) set up under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. There are clear resource and resilience issues to be addressed in ensuring that the MPA contributes fully to all 32 partnerships. Members may want to commission a paper for a forthcoming full Authority meeting setting out proposals for meeting his new responsibility.

C. Financial implications

Most of the amendments involving police authorities as a matter of right in consultations are unlikely to impose a direct cost on the Authority. The resource implications of being full members of CDRPs will need to be explored as proposals are developed.

D. Background papers

• MPA response to "Police - a blueprint for change"
• APA circulars 30/2002 and 12/2001
• Police Reform Bill

E. Contact details

Report author: Catherine Crawford, Clerk, MPA.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1

Appendix 1 is available in copy only, from CLAMS, MPA.

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