Police Act 1997
1997 Chapter 50 - continued
 
 

An Act to make provision for the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the National Crime Squad; to make provision about entry on and interference with property and with wireless telegraphy in the course of the prevention or detection of serious crime; to make provision for the Police Information Technology Organisation; to provide for the issue of certificates about criminal records; to make provision about the administration and organisation of the police; to repeal certain enactments about rehabilitation of offenders; and for connected purposes.

[21st March 1997]

BE IT ENACTED by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-
 

  PART I
  THE NATIONAL CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE
 
The Service Authority
The Service Authority for the National Criminal Intelligence Service.     1. - (1) There shall be a body corporate to be known as the Service Authority for the National Criminal Intelligence Service (in this Part referred to as "the NCIS Service Authority").
 
      (2) Subject to the following provisions of this section, the NCIS Service Authority shall consist of nineteen members.
 
      (3) The Secretary of State may by order provide that the number of members shall be a specified odd number greater than nineteen.
 
      (4) Before making an order under subsection (3), the Secretary of State shall consult-
 
 
    (a) the NCIS Service Authority (if it is then in existence),
 
    (b) persons whom the Secretary of State considers to represent the interests of the authorities who between them maintain the police forces in Great Britain and the Royal Ulster Constabulary,
 
    (c) persons whom the Secretary of State considers to represent the interests of chief officers of police of police forces in England and Wales, chief constables of police forces in Scotland and the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and
 
    (d) the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
      (5) A statutory instrument containing an order under subsection (3) shall be laid before Parliament after being made.
 
      (6) The NCIS Service Authority may co-opt such additional members as it thinks fit.
 
      (7) Parts I, II and IV of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 shall have effect in relation to the NCIS Service Authority.
 
 
Functions
General functions of the NCIS Service Authority and NCIS.     2. - (1) The NCIS Service Authority shall maintain a body to be known as the National Criminal Intelligence Service (in this Part referred to as "NCIS").
 
      (2) The functions of NCIS shall be-
 
 
    (a) to gather, store and analyse information in order to provide criminal intelligence,
 
    (b) to provide criminal intelligence to police forces in Great Britain, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the National Crime Squad and other law enforcement agencies, and
 
    (c) to act in support of such police forces, the Royal Ulster Constabulary, the National Crime Squad and other law enforcement agencies carrying out their criminal intelligence activities.
      (3) For the purposes of subsection (2), "law enforcement agency" includes-
 
 
    (a) any government department,
 
    (b) the States of Jersey Police Force, the salaried police force of the Island of Guernsey and the Isle of Man Constabulary,
 
    (c) any other person charged with the duty of investigating offences or charging offenders, and
 
    (d) any other person engaged outside the United Kingdom in the carrying on of activities similar to any carried on by the NCIS Service Authority, NCIS, a police authority, a police force, the NCS Service Authority or the National Crime Squad.
      (4) In discharging its functions, the NCIS Service Authority shall have regard to-
 
 
    (a) any objectives determined by the Secretary of State under section 26,
 
    (b) any objectives determined by the Authority under section 3,
 
    (c) any performance targets established by the Authority, whether in compliance with a direction under section 27 or otherwise, and
 
    (d) any service plan issued by the Authority under section 4.
      (5) In discharging any function to which a code of practice issued under section 28 relates, the NCIS Service Authority shall have regard to the code.
 
      (6) The NCIS Service Authority shall comply with any direction given to it by the Secretary of State under section 27 or 30 or under Schedule 3.
 
Objectives.     3. - (1) The NCIS Service Authority shall secure that NCIS is efficient and effective.
 
      (2) The NCIS Service Authority shall, before the beginning of each financial year, determine objectives for that year for NCIS.
 
      (3) Objectives determined under this section may relate to matters to which objectives determined under section 26 also relate, or to other matters, but in any event shall be so framed as to be consistent with the objectives determined under that section.
 
      (4) Before determining objectives under this section, the NCIS Service Authority shall consult-
 
 
    (a) the Director General of NCIS,
 
    (b) persons whom it considers to represent the interests of the authorities who between them maintain the police forces in Great Britain and the Royal Ulster Constabulary,
 
    (c) the NCS Service Authority, and
 
    (d) the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
Service plans.     4. - (1) The NCIS Service Authority shall, before the beginning of each financial year, issue a plan setting out the proposed arrangements for the carrying out by NCIS of its functions during the year ("the service plan").
 
      (2) The service plan shall include a statement of the Authority's priorities for the year, of the financial resources expected to be available and of the proposed allocation of those resources, and shall give particulars of-
 
 
    (a) any objectives determined by the Secretary of State under section 26,
 
    (b) any objectives determined by the Authority under section 3, and
 
    (c) any performance targets established by the Authority, whether in compliance with a direction under section 27 or otherwise.
      (3) A draft of the service plan shall be prepared by the Director General of NCIS and submitted by him to the Authority for it to consider.
 
      (4) Before issuing a service plan which differs from the draft submitted by the Director General under subsection (3), the Authority shall consult the Director General.
 
      (5) The Authority shall arrange for every service plan issued by it under this section to be published in such manner as appears to it to be appropriate, and shall send a copy of the plan to-
 
 
    (a) the Secretary of State,
 
    (b) each police authority for an area in Great Britain, each joint police board (within the meaning of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967) and the Police Authority for Northern Ireland,
 
    (c) the chief officer of police of each police force in England and Wales, the chief constable of each police force in Scotland and the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary,
 
    (d) the NCS Service Authority,
 
    (e) the Director General of the National Crime Squad, and
 
    (f) the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
Annual reports.     5. - (1) The NCIS Service Authority shall, as soon as possible after the end of each financial year, issue a report on the carrying out of its functions during that year.
 
      (2) A report issued under this section for any year shall include an assessment of the extent to which the service plan for that year issued under section 4 has been carried out.
 
      (3) The NCIS Service Authority shall arrange for every report issued by it under this section to be published in such manner as appears to it to be appropriate, and shall send a copy of the report to-
 
 
    (a) the Secretary of State,
 
    (b) each police authority for an area in Great Britain, each joint police board (within the meaning of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967) and the Police Authority for Northern Ireland,
 
    (c) the chief officer of police of each police force in England and Wales, the chief constable of each police force in Scotland and the Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary,
 
    (d) the NCS Service Authority,
 
    (e) the Director General of the National Crime Squad, and
 
    (f) the Commissioners of Customs and Excise.
 
Director General and other members
Appointment of Director General.     6. - (1) NCIS shall have a Director General appointed by the NCIS Service Authority on such terms and conditions as the Authority considers appropriate.
 
      (2) The Director General shall be chosen by a panel of members of the Authority from a list of persons eligible for appointment which has been prepared by that panel and approved by the Secretary of State.
 
      (3) A person shall be eligible for appointment as Director General for the purposes of subsection (2) if-
 
 
    (a) he holds the rank of chief constable in a police force in Great Britain or in the Royal Ulster Constabulary,
 
    (b) he is the Commissioner, an Assistant Commissioner or a Deputy Assistant Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis,
 
    (c) he is the Commissioner of Police for the City of London, or
 
    (d) he is, in accordance with regulations under section 50 of the Police Act 1996, section 26 of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 or section 25 of the Police Act (Northern Ireland) 1970, a constable eligible for appointment to any of the ranks or posts mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (c).
      (4) The panel mentioned in subsection (2) shall be convened by the chairman of the NCIS Service Authority and shall consist only of members of that Authority appointed-
 
 
    (a) by the Secretary of State (other than under paragraph 6, 7(f) or 8(1)(h) of Schedule 1), or
 
    (b) by local authority members of police authorities for areas in England and Wales (as defined in paragraph 14 of that Schedule), members of police authorities for areas in Scotland or members of the Police Authority for Northern Ireland.
      (5) The Director General shall, on appointment, be attested as a constable by making a declaration in the form set out in Schedule 4 to the Police Act 1996 before a justice of the peace appointed for an area in England and Wales.
 
      (6) Without prejudice to any other enactment conferring powers on constables for particular purposes, the Director General shall have all the powers and privileges of a constable throughout England and Wales and the adjacent United Kingdom waters.
 
      (7) The Director General shall hold the rank of chief constable.
 
      (8) In subsection (6)-
 
 
    "powers" includes powers under any enactment, whenever passed or made;
 
    "United Kingdom waters" means the sea and other waters within the seaward limits of the territorial sea;
  and that subsection, so far as it relates to powers under any enactment, makes them exercisable throughout the United Kingdom waters whether or not the enactment applies to those waters apart from this provision.
 
Removal of Director General by the Authority.     7. - (1) Without prejudice to section 21 or to any regulations under section 37 or under the Police Pensions Act 1976, the NCIS Service Authority, acting with the approval of the Secretary of State, may call upon the Director General of NCIS to retire in the interests of efficiency or effectiveness.
 
      (2) Before seeking the approval of the Secretary of State for the purposes of subsection (1), the Authority shall give the Director General an opportunity to make representations and shall consider any representations that he makes.
 
      (3) A Director General who is called upon to retire under subsection (1) shall retire on such date as the Authority may specify or on such earlier date as may be agreed upon between him and the Authority.
 
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© Crown copyright 1997
Prepared 16 April 1997