Requirement to advertise
41.—(1) Subject to paragraph (4), where a selection panel are required to nominate persons willing to be candidates to be appointed as police authority members under regulation 9, they shall publish in at least two newspapers circulating in the police area of the police authority for which they are appointed a notice stating the matters referred to in paragraph (2).
(2) The matters to be included in a notice published under paragraph (1) are—
(a)the name of the police authority and police area;
(b)that a vacancy exists, or will exist, amongst those members of that police authority to which members of the public are eligible for appointment;
(c)the matters the panel has to have regard to under regulation 39 and the functions of the police authority to promote equality and diversity(1);
(d)that the persons the panel must nominate must include persons with skills, knowledge or experience which are under represented among the existing members of the police authority;
(e)that the duties in connection with the vacancy include—
(i)attendance at meetings of the police authority and its committees;
(ii)keeping abreast of developments in both local and national policing;
(iii)representing the police authority in discussions with interested parties;
(iv)attendance at local police consultative groups; and
(v)liaising with representatives of the local community on policing issues;
(f)that persons are only eligible for appointment if they—
(i)are aged over eighteen;
(ii)live or work in the police area at the time of their appointment;
(iii)have lived or worked in that area for at least the whole of the period of twelve months prior to their appointment, and
(iv)are not otherwise disqualified;
(g)that, if a person wishes to have his name put forward, he must apply to the panel for an application form; and
(h)the date, not being less than one month after the date when the notice is published, by which the application form must be completed and returned to the panel if it is to be considered by them in connection with a particular vacancy.
(3) Where the person the selection panel are required to nominate must be a lay justice in accordance with regulation 38(3) then the notice published under paragraph (1) shall indicate that fact.
(4) This regulation shall not apply where—
(a)the condition specified in paragraph (5) is satisfied, and
(b)the selection panel have decided to exercise the discretion conferred on them by regulation 45(1), and
(c)on completion of the procedure required by regulation 45(2), the selection panel have the names of a sufficient number of persons willing to be nominated as candidates for appointment under regulation 9 as members of the police authority.
(5) The condition referred to in paragraph (4)(a) is that, at the date when the vacancy occurred or, as the case may be, is expected to occur, less than two years have passed since the date of the publication of the last notice previously published in accordance with paragraph (1).
(6) In paragraph (4)(c) above “sufficient number” means a number twice the number of appointments that are to be made under regulation 9.
This function of police authorities is prescribed by the Police Authorities (Particular Functions and Transitional Provisions) Order 2008 S.I. 2008/82.