Clause 30 - Fixed penalty notices: authorised officers
Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Bill
3:30 pm
Mr Alun Michael (Minister of State (Rural Affairs), Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Cardiff South and Penarth, Labour/Co-operative)
What the clause allows is fairly clear. It defines an ''authorised officer''. First, it could be an employee of the authority, but not just any old employee; it must be someone who is authorised in writing for the purpose of giving notices. As we have said, we will, in regulations or in guidance as appropriate, indicate the training that we expect people to have to be able to undertake that activity.
The second element is on page 28 in proposed new section 47(1)(b). The easiest thing is to read what it says. It refers to
''any person who, in pursuance of arrangements made with the authority, has the function of giving such notices and is authorised in writing by the authority to perform that function''.
That draws pretty widely the category of those who could undertake the work, whether the arrangement happened to be a contract with a company or an arrangement with another public body or even, conceivably, a non-governmental or voluntary organisation.
The third element is
''any employee of such a person who is authorised in writing by the authority for the purpose of giving such notices''.
In other words, if an organisation does work for a council—that would generally involve a contractual relationship—its employees could be authorised to undertake the work. That seems pretty comprehensive. Subsection (2) would give power to the appropriate person—we come back again to the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales, respectively—to
''by regulations prescribe conditions to be satisfied by a person before a parish or community council may authorise him in writing for the purpose of giving notices under section 43(1).''
Those requirements would deal with the issue of whom it is appropriate to allow to issue notices, and what training is required.