Police (Scotland) Act 1967

20 Power of Secretary of State to make amalgamation schemes

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, if it appears to the Secretary of State that the expediency in the interests of efficiency of making an amalgamation scheme for any police areas should be considered, and no scheme satisfactory to him has been submitted to him under section 19 of this Act by the police authorities for those areas before such date as he may fix, the Secretary of State may in accordance with the following provisions of this section by order make such scheme as he considers expedient; and the provisions of the said section 19 shall apply in relation to any such scheme as they apply in relation to schemes made under that section, with the substitution in subsection (8) thereof for any reference to the approval of a scheme of a reference to the making of a scheme.

(2) Before making a scheme under this section the Secretary of State shall send a copy of the proposed scheme to the police authorities concerned and shall specify in an accompanying notice the period within which objection may be made to the proposed scheme.

(3) If, within the period specified in the notice, a police authority to whom notice has been given gives notice to the Secretary of State of an objection to the proposed scheme or any feature of that scheme, the Secretary of State shall, before making the scheme, cause a local inquiry to be held in respect of that objection by a person appointed by him (who shall not be a constable or an officer of any Government department).

(4) Where such an inquiry has been held, the Secretary of State shall consider the report of the person holding that inquiry before determining whether the scheme should be made and if so subject to what modifications, if any.

(5) Any local inquiry held under subsection (3) of this section shall be held in public, and the provisions of subsections (3) to (9) of section 355 of the [1947 c. 43.] Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 (provisions as to local inquiries) shall apply to any such inquiry as they apply to an inquiry held under that section.

(6) A draft of any statutory instrument embodying an order under this section, together with a copy of the proposed scheme to which the order applies, shall be laid before Parliament; and where a local inquiry has been held under this section with respect to the proposed scheme a copy of the report of the person by whom the inquiry was held shall also be laid before Parliament with the said draft.