§ Mr. DismoreTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to review the qualification requirements to join the Metropolitan police based on(a) UK residence and (b) UK Commonwealth and Irish citizenship; and if he will make a statement. [141329]
§ Mr. Charles ClarkeHome Office Circulars 99/1982 and 33/1987, issued to police forces on 3 November 1982 and 15 June 1997 respectively, provide guidance on the nationality qualifications for applicants to the police service in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan police. To be eligible for appointment as a constable a candidate must be
(a) a British citizen; or(b) a Commonwealth citizen (other than a British citizen) or a citizen of the Irish Republic, in which case he or she must satisfy one of the following conditions:(i) at least one of his or her parents must be, or have been at death, a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Irish Republic; or(ii) he or she must have resided in a country or territory within the Commonwealth or in the Irish Republic, or have been employed elsewhere in the service of the Crown, or partly have so resided and partly been so employed, for at least five years out of the last eight years preceding the date of his or her appointment. If not qualified under (i) or (ii) he/she must satisfy the chief officer of police that he/she is so closely connected with a country or territory within the Commonwealth either by ancestry, upbringing or residence, or by reason of national service, that an exception may properly be made in his/her favour.There is no statutory requirement for an applicant for appointment as a police officer to have resided in the UK prior to application which is a matter to be determined on a local basis by chief police officers. No record is held centrally of which forces have a residency requirement as part of their recruitment process.
257WCabinet Office guidance, on which police forces base their policy for carrying out security clearances of applicants, recommends that the normal residency requirement for security clearance is that the applicant has been resident in the United Kingdom for the previous three years. However, if the applicant has spent the previous three years in another country, discretion may be given to undertake overseas security checks where this is possible.
Consultation with the police service in 1998 identified no consensus for change to the present nationality requirements. We are giving further consideration to whether it would be appropriate to propose any changes.