§ 18. Sir G. Foxasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give comprehensive figures for the last 10 years, or convenient dates, of the numbers of decisions in respect of police officers submitted to him from watch committees and chief constables, respectively, indicating the numbers of decisions he has had to reverse in each case; and the number of cases in which the original hearings before the watch committee had not been properly undertaken.
§ Mr. EdeThe figures involved in the first part of the Question are given below. The second part of the Question raises issues of law on which I have no power to make an authoritative pronouncement. I can, however, say that in the period under review there were seven appeals from decisions by watch committees in which no shorthand note of the proceedings had been taken and one in which the note was inadequate.
The following are the figures referred to:
Particulars of appeals to the Secretary of State from members of county and city and borough police forces in England and Wales, during the period 1936 to 1945, under the Police (Appeals) Act, 1927, as amended by the Police (Appeals) Act, 1943:
County forces. City and Borough forces. Number of appeals 29 37 Appeals dismissed 20 30 Appeals allowed 2 3 Punishment varied 7 4