(1)The Secretary of State shall by regulations prescribe the arrangements to be made, by the Chief Constable or a person appointed under section 43(1), for the recruitment of persons for appointment—
(a)as police trainees;
(b)as police reserve trainees; and
(c)under section 4(3) to posts in the police support staff.
(2)Before making any regulations under subsection (1) the Secretary of State shall consult—
(a)the Board;
(b)the Chief Constable;
(c)the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland; and
(d)the Police Association.
(3)The regulations shall include provision for—
(a)the advertising of vacancies;
(b)the information to be provided by applicants;
(c)the tests to be undertaken by applicants;
(d)the vetting of applicants;
(e)the review, in prescribed circumstances, of decisions taken under the regulations;
(f)prescribed functions under the regulations to be exercised by persons who are, or include, persons who are not, and have not at any time been—
(i)police officers;
(ii)members of the police support staff; or
(iii)members of the Board.
(4)In making regulations under this section, the Secretary of State shall have regard, in particular, to the need to secure that information is not disclosed contrary to the public interest.
(5)In relation to the recruitment of persons for appointment as police trainees, the regulations shall include provision for the selection of qualified applicants to form a pool of applicants for the purposes of section 46(1).
(6)In relation to the recruitment of persons for appointment under section 4(3) to relevant posts in the police support staff, the regulations shall include provision for the selection of qualified applicants to form a pool of applicants for the purposes of section 46(5).
(7)For the purposes of subsection (6) and section 46(5) a post in the police support staff is a relevant post if at the time the vacancy for that post is advertised it appears to the Chief Constable that it is one of at least 6 vacancies for posts in the police support staff which are—
(a)at the same level; and
(b)to be filled at or about the same time.
(8)In this section “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations under subsection (1).