In October 2010, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, announced the “most comprehensive review of police pay and conditions in more than 30 years”. The independent review covering England and Wales was led to Tom Winsor, the former Rail Regulator. In March 2011, Mr Winsor published his first report, which “covered short-term improvements to remuneration and terms and conditions”.
This note looks at the possible roles of the police and armed forces in controlling riots. A separate Library standard note 6048 deals with compensation and insurance for those affected by riots.
This Research Paper has been prepared for the Commons stages of the Police (Detention and Bail) Bill, which is being fast-tracked and is due to undergo all of its remaining Commons stages on 7 July 2011. The Bill would reverse the effect of the High Court’s recent decision in the Hookway case, in which it held that the “detention clock” limiting the period that the police can hold a suspect for without charge continued to run when the suspect was released on bail
This is a report on the House of Commons Committee Stage of the Protection of Freedoms Bill. It complements Research Paper 11/20 prepared for the Commons Second Reading.
During the Committee stage, several Government amendments were made to the provisions on police reform. Some (for example, on police complaints, police and crime plans and disqualifying people convicted of imprisonable offences from becoming or being police and crime commissioners) were on matters of substance. By contrast, there were only minor amendments to the provisions of the misuse of drugs and no substantive amendments to the parts of the Bill covering licensing, protests in Parliament Square or universal jurisdiction.
This briefing on the Protection of Freedoms Bill was prepared for the House of Commons Second Reading debate. The Bill forms part of the Coalition Government's programme to “implement a full programme of measures to reverse the substantial erosion of civil liberties and roll back state intrusion”, and follows the passing of the Identity Documents Act 2010, which abolished identity cards. The Bill introduces a wide range of measures including the a new framework for police retention of fingerprints and DNA data, a requirement for schools to get parents’ consent before processing children’s biometric information, a new regime for police stops and searches under the Terrorism Act 2000 and the reduction of the maximum pre-charge detention period under that Act from 28 to 14 days. It also restricts the scope of the 'vetting and barring' scheme for protecting vulnerable groups and makes changes to the system of criminal records checks.
Central government will provide approximately £73bn in grants to local authorities in England in 2011/12. This funding is made up of the formula grant, comprised of revenue support grant, redistributed business rate income and Home Office Police Grant where appropriate, and specific grants.
The Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), including its exemptions, applies to the police. Section 29 of the Act details the "crime and taxation" exemption which allows personal data either to be processed or withheld from the data subject for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime or the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
This briefing on the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill has been prepared for the Second Reading debate on the Bill in the House of Commons. It specifically looks at areas covering police and arrest warrants; licensing; protests around parliament and the misuse of drugs.
Firearms law is currently a reserved matter. However, arguing that Scotland has a significantly bigger problem with airgun-inflicted injury and death than the rest of Great Britain, the Scottish Parliament has called for the right to make its own laws on air weapons.