§ Mr. Fowlerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will set out the administrative procedure followed in his Department in dealing with discipline appeals to him under Section 37 of the Police Act 1964;
(2) what is the rôle of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector and Inspectors of Constabulary in discipline appeals under Section 37 of the Police Act 1964;
(3) what is the average length of time between receiving an appeal under Section 37 of the Police Act 1964 and the making of an order;
(4) what was the length of time between receiving the appeal made to him under Section 37 of the Police Act 1964 and the order being made by him in the case of P.C. Fox of the Birmingham City Police;
(5) what was the length of time between receiving the appeal made to him under Section 37 of the Police Act 1964 and the order being made by him in the case of P.S. Bailey of Thames Valley Police;
(6) what was the length of time taken between receiving the appeal made to him under Section 37 of the Police Act 1964 and the order being made by him in the case of P.C. Powell of the Gloucestershire Constabulary.
20W
§ Mr. R. CarrThe Police (Appeals) Rules 1965 require a formal notice of appeal, with a statement of the grounds of appeal and any supporting material, to be submitted to me within 21 days of the notification to the appellant of the decision appealed against. I have power to extend this period, and I frequently exercise it so that the appellant may complete his grounds of appeal. The chief officer of police is then asked, in accordance with the rules, for his response to the appeal. When all the relevant documents have been received, my Department undertakes any further inquiries which may be necessary, prepares a full summary of the facts of the case, considers all the issues arising on the appeal, and submits the papers to me for my decision. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector and inspectors of constabulary give advice as appropriate on profesional matters.
The time required varies widely, depending on the difficulty of assembling all the documents and the complexity of the issues. The average time taken to deal with the 45 appeals decided in 1972 was just over 10 weeks from receipt of a formal notice of appeal to the final receipt of all relevant documents, and just over a further 11 weeks from then until the making of my order.
The times taken to deal with the three cases mentioned were:
Notice of appeal to final receipt of documents Final receipt of documents to making of order P.C. Fox 1 week 4 days 10 weeks P.S. Bailey 21 weeks 3 days 19 weeks P.C. Powell 9 weeks 13 weeks 4 days