Policing and Crime Bill

My Lords, these three amendments relate to a concern about the regulation-making powers that the Bill gives to the Secretary of State. However, our highly respected Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee has scrutinised the Bill and did not find the powers to make secondary legislation inappropriate. Amendment 7 is to Clause 3, which specifies additional matters that may be included in regulations made under Section 50 of the Police Act 1996. That Act provides that before regulations are made under Section 50 either the Police Negotiating Board or the Police Advisory Board must be engaged. As the Association of Police Authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers are members of the Police Negotiating Board and the Police Advisory Board, it is unnecessary to further specify a duty to consult them in legislation. I believe that that answers the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Jones, about consultation. Amendment 7 also creates an approval role for the Chief Inspector of Constabulary under Clause 3. While he will continue to have a key role in advising the senior appointments panel, he will not chair the panel. It will no longer be appropriate for him to hold this role under the new system as HMIC now has a strengthened role for performance improvement. Therefore, while the expert advice of the chief inspector will be important in improvements to the appointment and departure arrangements for chief officers, including changes made through regulations, I do not believe that it is right for him to gain a statutory role in regulations under Clause 3. This amendment would give the chief inspector this role in relation to all matters that may be included in regulations under Section 50 of the Police Act 1996, which includes police pay, allowances and annual leave. We do not think that it is appropriate for the chief inspector to have a role in these matters. Amendments 99 and 100 amend Clause 111, which contains a general power to make an order containing supplementary, incidental or consequential provisions for the purposes of the Act. However, these amendments do not affect the powers to make secondary legislation in Part 1, whereas I understand that the intention of these amendments is to make all those powers subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. Therefore, the amendments are defective. The noble Baroness, Lady Neville-Jones, asked about the powers in Clause 3 already existing in employment law. Clause 3 is needed to note provision for these powers expressly for the police. The police are not subject to general employment law, which is why it is focused like that. On the basis of what I have said, I ask the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, to withdraw her amendment.