S.C.E.
Amendment Paper as at
Thursday 6th March 2003
STANDING COMMITTEE E
New Amendments handed in are marked thus *
POLICE (NORTHERN IRELAND) BILL [LORDS]
NOTE
The Amendments have been arranged in accordance with the Order of the Committee (25th February).
Mr David Wilshire
117
Clause 19, page 12, line 28, leave out 'three' and insert 'five'.
Mr David Wilshire
125
*Clause 19, page 12, line 32, leave out 'constable or the rank of'.
Mr David Wilshire
126
*Clause 19, page 12, line 32, leave out 'or the rank of a senior officer'.
Mr David Trimble
90
Clause 19, page 12, line 32, at end insert—
'(3A) The Chief Constable shall not make an appointment under this section unless he is satisfied that the person to be appointed meets the general standards for appointment to the Police Service of Northern Ireland and will receive appropriate training to the same standard.'.
Mr David Wilshire
118
Clause 19, page 12, leave out lines 33 to 35.
Mr David Wilshire
119
Clause 19, page 12, leave out lines 36 and 37.
NEW CLAUSES RELATING TO PART 1
Protected disclosures by police officers
Jane Kennedy
NC4
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) After Article 67K of the Employment Rights (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 (S.I. 1996/1919 (N.I.16) insert—
"67KA Application of Part VA and related provisions to police (1) Paragraph (2) applies for the purposes of—
| (b) | Article 70B and Articles 71 and 72 so far as relating to that Article, and |
| (c) | Article 134A and the other provisions of Part XI so far as they relate to the right not to be unfairly dismissed in a case where the dismissal is unfair by virtue of Article 134A. |
(2) A person who holds, otherwise than under a contract of employment, the office of constable as a police officer shall be treated as an employee employed by the Chief Constable under a contract of employment, and any reference to a worker being "employed" and to his "employer" shall be construed accordingly."
(2) In Article 243(1) of that Order (provisions which do not apply to persons engaged in police service under a contract of employment)—
| (a) | omit the words "Part VA,"; |
| (b) | after "Articles 132" insert ", 134A"; |
| (c) | after "Article 132" insert "or 134A". |
(3) Article 16 of the Public Interest Disclosure (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 (S.I. 1998/1763 (N.I. 17)) (exclusion of police service from provisions about protected disclosures) shall cease to have effect.
(4) Subsections (1) to (3) come into force in accordance with provision made by the Secretary of State by order.'.
Discrimination in appointments
Mr Alistair Carmichael
Lembit Öpik
NC1
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) Section 46 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (c. 32) is amended as follows.
(2) For subsection (1) substitute—
"(1) In making appointments under section 39 on any occasion, the Chief Constable shall appoint from the pool of qualified candidates formed for that purpose by virtue of section 44(5) persons of whom—
| (a) | 43 per cent. shall be persons who are treated as Roman Catholic; |
| (b) | 43 per cent. shall be persons who are treated as Protestants; and |
| (c) | 14 per cent. shall be persons who are not so treated.".'. |
Removal of discrimination from recruitment
Mr David Trimble
NC2
To move the following Clause:—
'(1) In Part 6 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (c. 32) for section 46 substitute—
"Under-representation (1) In making appointments under section 39 the Chief Constable may take such steps as he determines appropriate to encourage applications by persons currently under-represented in the Police Service.
(2) In making appointments to the police support staff under section 4(3) the Chief Constable (acting by virtue of subsection (5) of that section) may take such steps as he determines appropriate to encourage applications by persons currently under-represented in the police support staff.
(3) For the purposes of this section "persons currently under-represented" means persons forming part of a social group by virtue of their sex, religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation who at the time of consideration by the Chief Constable are under-represented".
(2) In Part 6 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000, leave out section 47.'.
Appointments to the Police Service of Northern Ireland
Mr David Trimble
Mr John Taylor
Mr David Wilshire
NC3
To move the following Clause:—
'In the event that—
| (a) | the Chief Constable is unable to appoint his required number of police trainees or police support staff, or |
| (b) | the number of serving officers is below that intended at the time of consideration, |
the Secretary of State shall, at the request of a majority of the Police Board and acting on the recommendation of the Chief Constable, make an order to suspend the provisions of section 46 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 for a period of six months.'.
Time limit on investigations by the Ombudsman
Mr David Trimble
NC5
To move the following Clause:—
'After section 63 of the 1998 Act there shall be inserted—
63A Time limits on historic investigations
(1) The Ombudsman shall not investigate any complaint made to him under section 52(1) or any matter referred to him under section 52(1), 55(1), (2), or (4) if the actions, behaviour or conduct to which the matter relates took place more than 12 months before the date on which the reference is made.
(2) The Ombudsman shall not at any time commence a formal investigation under section 55(6) of any matters if the actions or behaviour to which the matter relates took place more than 12 months before that time.".'.
Membership of district policing partnerships
Mr David Wilshire
NC6
To move the following Clause:—
'.—In paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (c. 32) (Political members) after subparagraph (1) insert—
| "(1A) | Notwithstanding subparagraph (1) above no person may be appointed as a political member who has not renounced violence and ended all links with any organisation that has not yet disposed of all its weapons and explosives.".'. |
Disqualification from membership of district policing partnerships
Mr David Wilshire
NC7
To move the following Clause:—
'.—In paragraph 3 of Schedule 3 to the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (c. 32) (Political members) after subparagraph (5)(c) insert—
| "(d) | he is convicted of a terrorist related offence; |
| (e) | he is found to have links to a terrorist organisation.".'. |
Mr David Wilshire
127
*Clause 23, page 16, leave out line 7.
Mr Alistair Carmichael
Lembit Öpik
22
Clause 23, page 16, line 15, leave out 'adequate' and insert 'full'.
Mr David Trimble
104
Clause 23, page 16, line 17, at end insert—
'(2A) No member of the police support staff may be designated by the Chief Constable under subsection (1) above if he has at any time in Northern Ireland or elsewhere been convicted of a criminal offence for which he could have received a period of imprisonment.'.
Mr David Wilshire
128
*Schedule 1, page 25, line 29, leave out paragraph 3.
Mr David Wilshire
129
*Schedule 1, page 28, line 2, leave out paragraph 7.
Mr David Trimble
24
Page 2, line 18, leave out Clause 4.
Mr David Trimble
105
Clause 24, page 17, line 17, at end insert—
'(2A) The Board shall not enter into a contact with a person ("the contractor") pursuant to subsection (1) above if that person has at any time in Northern Ireland or elsewhere been convicted of a criminal offence for which he could have received a period of imprisonment.'.
Mr David Trimble
106
Clause 24, page 17, line 17, at end insert—
'(2A) No employee of the contractor may be designated as a detention officer or escort officer by the Chief Constable under subsection (2) above if that employee has at any time in Northern Ireland or elsewhere been convicted of a criminal offence for which he could have received a period of imprisonment.'.
Mr Alistair Carmichael
Lembit Öpik
23
Clause 24, page 17, line 23, leave out 'adequate' and insert 'full'.
Mr David Wilshire
113
Clause 24, page 17, line 27, at end insert—
'(e) the person has never had any connection with a terrorist organisation.'.
