Part I Prevention of crime and disorder
Chapter I England and Wales
Crime and disorder strategies
I1C1C2C35 Authorities responsible for strategies.
1
Subject to the provisions of this section, the functions conferred by F1or under section 6 below shall be exercisable in relation to each local government area by the responsible authorities, that is to say—
a
the council for the area and, where the area is a district and the council is not a unitary authority, the council for the county which includes the district; F2and
F3aa
every provider of probation services operating within the area in pursuance of arrangements under section 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007 which provide for it to be a responsible authority under this section;
b
every chief officer of police any part of whose police area lies within the area.
F4c
every police authority any part of whose police area so lies;
d
every F5fire and rescue authority any part of whose area so lies;
e
if the local government area is in England, every Primary Care Trust the whole or any part of whose area so lies; and
f
if the local government area is in Wales, every F6Local Health Board the whole or any part of whose area so lies.
F71A
The relevant local policing body in relation to two or more local government areas in England may make a combination agreement with the responsible authorities in relation to those areas (the “combined area”).
1B
A combination agreement is an agreement for the functions conferred by or under section 6 or by section 7 to be carried out in relation to the combined area as if it constituted only one local government area.
1BA
The responsible authorities in relation to a combined area are all the persons who are the responsible authorities in relation to each local government area that falls within the combined area.
1BB
Section 5A contains further provision about the making and contents of combination agreements.
F81C
F9A combination agreement—
a
may require the councils for the local government areas in question to appoint a joint committee of those councils (the “joint crime and disorder committee”) and to arrange for crime and disorder scrutiny functions in relation to any (or all) of those councils to be exercisable by that committee;
b
may make provision applying any of the relevant provisions, with or without modifications, in relation to a joint crime and disorder committee.
1D
In subsection (1C)—
“crime and disorder scrutiny functions”, in relation to a council, means functions that are, or, but for F10a combination agreement, would be, exercisable by the crime and disorder committee of the council under section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 (local authority scrutiny of crime and disorder matters);
“the relevant provisions” means—
- a
section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006;
- b
section 20 of that Act and any regulations made under that section;
- c
Schedule 8 to that Act;
- d
section 21 of the Local Government Act 2000.
- a
F111E
The “relevant local policing body”, in relation to a combined area, is—
a
if the area falls (wholly or partly) within the police area of a police and crime commissioner, the commissioner,
b
if the area falls (wholly or partly) within the metropolitan police district, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and
c
if the area falls partly within the City of London, the Secretary of State.
1F
If there is more than one relevant local policing body in relation to a combined area by virtue of subsection (1E), the references in subsection (1A) above and section 5A(2) to the relevant local policing body in relation to the combined area are references to each of the relevant local policing bodies for that area acting jointly.
2
In exercising F12the functions conferred by or under section 6, the responsible authorities shall act in co-operation with the following persons and bodies, namely—
F13b
every local probation board any part of whose area lies within the area;
F14ba
every provider of probation services operating within the area in pursuance of arrangements under section 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007 which provide for it to co-operate under this subsection with the responsible authorities;
c
every person or body of a description which is for the time being prescribed by order of the Secretary of State under this subsection F15; and
d
where they are acting in relation to an area in Wales, every person or body which is of a description which is for the time being prescribed by an order under this subsection of the National Assembly for Wales;
and it shall be the duty of those persons and bodies to co-operate in the exercise by the responsible authorities of F12the functions conferred by or under section 6.
3
The responsible authorities shall also invite the participation in their exercise of those functions of at least one person or body of each description which is for the time being prescribed by order of the Secretary of State under this subsection F16and, in the case of the responsible authorities for an area in Wales, of any person or body of a description for the time being prescribed by an order under this subsection of the National Assembly for Wales.
4
In this section and sections 6 and 7 below “local government area” means—
a
in relation to England, each district or London borough, the City of London, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly;
b
in relation to Wales, each county or county borough.
F175
In this section—
F18“fire and rescue authority” means—
- a
a fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies;
- b
a metropolitan county fire and civil defence authority; or
- c
the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority;F19. . .
- a
F19. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
F206
The appropriate national authority may by order amend this section by—
a
adding an entry for any person or body to the list of authorities in subsection (1),
b
altering or repealing an entry for the time being included in the list, or
c
adding, altering or repealing provisions for the interpretation of entries in the list.
7
In this section the “appropriate national authority”, in relation to a person or body, means—
a
the National Assembly for Wales, if all the functions of the person or body are devolved Welsh functions;
b
the Secretary of State and the Assembly acting jointly, if the functions of the person or body include devolved Welsh functions and other functions; and
c
the Secretary of State, if none of the functions of the person or body are devolved Welsh functions.
8
In subsection (7), “devolved Welsh functions” means functions which are dischargeable only in relation to Wales and relate to matters in relation to which the Assembly has functions.
5AF31Combination agreements: further provision
1
A combination agreement for a combined area may be made only if every responsible authority in relation to that area is a party to the agreement.
2
The relevant local policing body for a combined area may enter into a combination agreement for that area only if it considers that it would be in the interests of one or more of the following to do so—
a
reducing crime and disorder;
b
reducing re-offending;
c
combating the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances.
3
Subsections (4) to (6) apply if a combined area in relation to a combination agreement includes (wholly or party) the area of more than one police area.
4
The combination agreement must include arrangements for securing effective and efficient co-operation—
a
between each of the relevant local policing bodies in relation to the combined area, and
b
between the responsible authorities for the area and those relevant local policing bodies.
5
The Secretary of State must be a party to the agreement (if not already a party by virtue of being a relevant local policing body in relation to the combined area).
6
The Secretary of State may enter into the agreement only if the Secretary of State—
a
considers that it would be in the interests of one or more of the matters mentioned in subsection (2), and
b
is satisfied that the arrangements mentioned in subsection (4) are adequate for the purposes of securing effective and efficient co-operation in the carrying out of functions under section 6.
7
A combination agreement—
a
must be in writing, and
b
may be varied by a further combination agreement.
8
A combination agreement may be terminated by agreement in writing between the parties to it; and subsection (2), and (as the case may be) (6)(a), applies to an agreement under this subsection.
9
In this section “combination agreement”, “combined area” and “relevant local policing body” have the same meanings as in section 5.
6F21 Formulation and implementation of strategies.
1
The responsible authorities for a local government area shall, in accordance with section 5 and with regulations made under subsection (2), formulate and implement—
a
a strategy for the reduction of crime and disorder in the area (including anti-social and other behaviour adversely affecting the local environment); and
b
a strategy for combatting the misuse of drugs, alcohol and other substances in the area F22; and
c
a strategy for the reduction of re-offending in the area.
2
The appropriate national authority may by regulations make further provision as to the formulation and implementation of a strategy under this section.
3
Regulations under subsection (2) may in particular make provision for or in connection with—
a
the time by which a strategy must be prepared and the period to which it is to relate;
b
the procedure to be followed by the responsible authorities in preparing and implementing a strategy (including requirements as to the holding of public meetings and other consultation);
c
the conferring of functions on any one or more of the responsible authorities in relation to the formulation and implementation of a strategy;
d
matters to which regard must be had in formulating and implementing a strategy;
e
objectives to be addressed in a strategy and performance targets in respect of those objectives;
f
the sharing of information between responsible authorities;
g
the publication and dissemination of a strategy;
h
the preparation of reports on the implementation of a strategy.
4
The provision which may be made under subsection (2) includes provision for or in connection with the conferring of functions on a committee of, or a particular member or officer of, any of the responsible authorities.
5
The matters referred to in subsection (3)(d) may in particular include guidance given by the appropriate national authority in connection with the formulation or implementation of a strategy.
6
Provision under subsection (3)(e) may require a strategy to be formulated so as to address (in particular)—
a
the reduction of crime or disorder of a particular description; or
b
the combatting of a particular description of misuse of drugs, alcohol or other substances.
7
Regulations under this section may make—
a
different provision for different local government areas;
b
supplementary or incidental provision.
8
For the purposes of this section any reference to the implementation of a strategy includes—
a
keeping it under review for the purposes of monitoring its effectiveness; and
b
making any changes to it that appear necessary or expedient.
9
In this section the “appropriate national authority” is—
a
the Secretary of State, in relation to strategies for areas in England;
b
the National Assembly for Wales, in relation to strategies for combatting the misuse of drugs, alcohol or other substances in areas in Wales;
c
the Secretary of State and the Assembly acting jointly, in relation to strategies for combatting crime and disorder F23or re-offending in areas in Wales.
6AF32 Powers of the Secretary of State and National Assembly for Wales
1
The Secretary of State may, by order, require—
a
the responsible authorities for local government areas to formulate any section 6 strategy of theirs for the reduction of crime and disorder so as to include, in particular, provision for the reduction of—
i
crime of a description specified in the order; or
ii
disorder of a description so specified.
b
the responsible authorities for local government areas in England to prepare any section 6 strategy of theirs for combatting the misuse of drugs so as to include in it a strategy for combatting, in the area in question, such other forms of substance misuse as may be specified or described in the order.
2
After formulating any section 6 strategy (whether in a case in which there has been an order under subsection or in any other case), the responsible authorities for a local government area shall send both—
a
a copy of the strategy, and
b
a copy of the document which they propose to publish under section 6(5),
to the Secretary of State.
3
It shall be the duty of the responsible authorities, when preparing any document to be published under section 6(5), to have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State as to the form and content of the documents to be so published.
4
If the responsible authorities for a local government area propose to make any changes to a section 6 strategy of theirs, they shall send copies of the proposed changes to the Secretary of State.
5
In subsections (2) to (4)—
a
references to the Secretary of State, in relation to responsible authorities for local government areas in Wales shall have effect as references to the Secretary of State and the National Assembly for Wales; and
b
accordingly, guidance issued for the purposes of subsection (3) in relation to local government areas in Wales must be issued by the Secretary of State and that Assembly acting jointly.
6
In this section—
“responsible authorities” and “local government area” have same meanings as in sections 5 and 6;
“section 6 strategy” means a strategy required to be formulated under section 6(1); and
“substance misuse” has the same meaning as in section 6.
I27 Supplemental.
1
The responsible authorities for a local government area shall, whenever so required by the F24relevant local policing body for that area, submit to F25that body a report on such matters connected with the exercise of their functions under section 6 above F26, apart from devolved Welsh functions (as defined by section 5(8)), as may be specified in the requirement.
F271A
The relevant local policing body in relation to a local government area may require a report under subsection (1) only if—
a
the body is not satisfied that the responsible authorities for the area are carrying out their functions under section 6 in an effective and efficient manner, and
b
the body considers it reasonable and proportionate in all the circumstances to require a report.
2
A requirement under subsection (1) above may specify the form in which a report is to be given.
3
F304
Relevant local policing body”, in relation to a local government area, means—
a
if the area (or any part of it) falls within the police area of a police and crime commissioner, the commissioner,
b
if the area (or any part of it) falls within the metropolitan police district, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and
c
if the area (or any part of it) is the City of London, the Secretary of State.
5
If there is more than one relevant local policing body in relation to a combined area that is to be treated as one local government area under a combination agreement (see section 5(1A))—
a
a report submitted under subsection (1) is to be submitted to each of the relevant local policing bodies for the combined area, and
b
references in this section to any requirement or arrangement made by the relevant local policing body are references to a requirement or arrangement made by each of the relevant local policing bodies for the combined area acting jointly.