§ Mr. Gordon PrenticeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what investigation he has made into the use of chief constables' discretion in relation to keeping on full pay those police officers who have been injured in the course of carrying out their duties; [25872]
(2) what discussions he has had with the Police Federation and ACPO on the variations in the way officers injured while carrying out their duties are treated by chief constables; [25874]
(3) what steps he has taken to ensure that police officers injured while carrying out their duties are not placed under financial pressure to return to work while still unfit. [25873]
§ Mr. Michael[holding answer 29 January 1998]: Regulation 46 of the Police Regulations 1995 sets out the arrangements for managing the pay of police officer during sick leave. The regulation provides for a police officer on sick leave to receive full pay during the first six months 398W of sick leave, half pay for the second six months, and no pay if sick leave continues beyond 12 months. The regulation also provides that, subject to the discretion of the chief constable, an officer on sick leave entitled to half pay may continue to receive full pay, and an officer on sick leave entitled to no pay may be paid half or full pay.
The regulation is clear that it is only the chief constable who may exercise such discretion and is therefore not an issue which ordinarily I would wish to raise in the course of my discussions with individual chief constables or the Association of Chief Police Officers.