HC Deb 15 November 1979 vol 973 cc716-7W
49. Mr. Allan Roberts

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department why magistrates serve on police authorities.

Mr. Brittan

In accordance with a recommendation of the Royal Commission on the police, sections 2(2) and 3(2) of the Police Act 1964 provide that one-third of the membership of police authorites in England and Wales should be magistrates for the areas concerned. The background to the recommendation is set out in the Commission's report published in 1962.