Clause 101
Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill
11:00 am
Phil Woolas (Minister of State (Local Government & Community Cohesion), Department for Communities and Local Government; Oldham East and Saddleworth, Labour)
I thank the hon. Gentleman for asking that question, because it allows me to put on the record again that this proposal already exists in other legislation. We have in mind specifically dedicated officers, who will occasionally be able to issue fixed penalty notices in some circumstances: on some occasions, those will be wardens or rangers who are employed by the local authority or partner organisations. In some cases, trading standards officers may be involved. That may be appropriate.
On the police community support officers, the role of the police is established in the Police Reform Act 2002, schedule 5 of which contains a list. That allows a local authority flexibility to designate which officers or officials would be covered, so it is a flexible power. Before a community support officer, or such an accredited person, is able to issue fixed penalty notices, the chief police officer is involved in the designation. Indeed, an officer cannot be designated without the chief police officer’s consent. We have rightly built that safety net into previous legislation, which applies to this measure.