Clause 3 - Issue of licence

Part of Scrap Metal Dealers Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:00 pm on 11 September 2012.

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Photo of Meg Hillier Meg Hillier Labour, Hackney South and Shoreditch 5:00, 11 September 2012

The Minister said—I paraphrase—“In my view, this would be handed on to an officer of the police force.” There is a difference between the local chief constable delegating it to the right officer of the police force, and any officer of a police force being the statutory consultee, as is provided for in subsection (7). Let us talk through what would practically happen. As my right hon. Friend the Member for Delyn has said, this would land on the desk of the chief constable. In my area, it could be done at borough level if that were more appropriate, because the Metropolitan police has a slightly different set-up. If it happened in my area, the borough commander would receive it and it would be delegated, probably without him even having sight of it, to the relevant officer or officers, rather than just any officer. I have a number of neighbourhood police teams in my area, so if the scrap metal merchant was based in their area, it might be good to consult them, depending on what was going on. If there was a suspicion that that scrap metal dealer had a wider area of work, then that would be picked up much more effectively at the higher level of a police authority.