Clause 13 - Direction and control matters
Police Reform Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Mr Bob Ainsworth (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Coventry North East, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 153, in page 12, line 42, leave out 'or conduct matter'.
It is necessary to make this drafting amendment to the clause to ensure both consistency in the Bill and that the Government's intentions are clear. In its current form, the clause excludes from the ambit of the new system any part of a complaint or conduct matter that relates to the direction and control of a police force. However, the Bill defines conduct matters as matters that relate to conduct, which could give rise to criminal or disciplinary proceedings. In contrast, direction and control refers to operational matters that relate to the deployment and administration of policing. There is no question of disciplinary or criminal misconduct if no question of disciplinary or criminal misconduct arises. Therefore, any matter that could give rise to criminal or disciplinary proceedings would not be a legitimate direction and control issue and should not be excluded from the remit of the new system. The amendment accordingly removes conduct matters from the scope of the clause.