Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, as the House will recall, my noble friend Lady Hanham had sympathy with this amendment in Committee. Later parts of the Bill give ACPO a role in the appointments panel for senior officers but, as I understand it, this is the first time that ACPO will be named, and one of its roles defined, in legislation. Will that make ACPO a statutory body? There needs to be clarity about this. I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, that if ACPO is to have a statutory role in senior appointments then it will have to have proper accountability not just to its members but also to the public. Of course, there is also a wider point. The Flanagan review highlighted the confusion that has arisen from a lack of clear understanding about the roles and responsibilities of various bodies and organisations in the policing sector. Placing ACPO in legislation in a statutory role—if indeed the Bill does that—without proper clarification of its responsibilities and without scrutiny will do nothing to help the implementation of review recommendations.