§ 5.10 p.m.
§ Amendments reported (according to order).
§ Clause 11:
§ Chief Constables.
§ (2) The chief constable of a non-county borough force shall not be transferred by virtue of this Act to the county force or to the combined force constituted by a county scheme made before the appointed day unless before the date of transfer he agrees to join that force in some capacity other than that 520 of a chief constable; and the chief constable of a police force shall not be transferred to the combined force constituted by a scheme under this Act unless he is appointed as the first chief constable of that force or unless before the date of transfer he agrees to join that force in some other capacity.
§ LORD LLEWELLIN, who had given Notice that he would move an Amendment in subsection (2), before "police force", to insert "county or county borough," said: My Lords, I believe that my Amendment to Clause II differs in little more than a comma from one which stands in the name of the noble and learned Lord on the Woolsack. I understand that the noble and learned Lord intends to move his Amendment, and as it covers the same point as mine in rather a fuller way I do not propose to move my Amendment.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR moved, in subsection (2), to leave out "police"—["police force"]—and insert "constituent." The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, this touches on a question which was discussed at the Committee stage, when Lord Llewellin and I took, I think, the same view as to what was the right thing to do. This is an odd little clause. It deals with two different things altogether. The first part deals with non-county borough police forces and the second part, beginning on line 30, concerns the chief constable of a police force. The first part of the subsection deals with the special case of the non-county borough, and I naturally assumed, as did Lord Llewellin also, I think, that the second part was dealing with the county borough or county police forces, and that the subsection would be improved if the words suggested by Lord Llewellin were put in. I had discussed this with the Home Office authorities, and they had agreed, but I had omitted to discuss it with the Parliamentary draftsman. Now Parliamentary draftsmen, as your Lordships know, are very ingenious fellows, and this one pointed out that the words of Lord Llewellin's Amendment would not do, anti for this reason.
§ I will explain it by an illustration. I took before the illustration of Canterbury and Kent, and I may as well use it again. Suppose Canterbury, being a county borough, and Kent, being a county, were combined in a scheme. Then you would have a new police force which would be 521 neither a Kent nor a Canterbury force. It would be run by a joint authority instead of by a Standing Joint Committee. And of course it would have a chief constable—let us call him Mr. X. He would be a chief constable, as your Lordships see, of a police force which was not a county borough police force and not a county police force. Now let us assume the next stage. Let us suppose that that police force—this is, of course very unlikely, and indeed it is an impossible illustration but it will serve—wants to combine with Sussex. You would naturally have to consider the position of Mr. Y who is chief constable of Sussex. Mr. Y would be all right because he would be chief constable of a county police force. Mr. X on the other hand would be all wrong because he would be chief constable neither of a county borough police force nor of a county force. Therefore I am moving this Amendment to insert the word "constituent." That word "constituent" will achieve what Lord Llewellin and I both desire, and that is the reason for the Amendment. I beg to move.
§
Amendment moved—
Page 10, line 30, leave out ("police") and insert ("constituent").—(The Lord Chancellor.)
§ On Question, Amendment agreed to.