Police (Appointments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Statutory Rules of Northern Ireland

2004 No. 379

POLICE

Police (Appointments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004

Made

4th September 2004

To be laid before Parliament

Coming into operation

1st October 2004

The Secretary of State, in pursuance of sections 25 and 26 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998(1), and after consulting the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Police Association for Northern Ireland, and after taking into consideration the recommendations of the Police Negotiating Board for the United Kingdom and supplying that Board with a draft of these regulations in accordance with section 62(1) of the Police Act 1996(2), hereby makes the following regulations:

Citation and commencement

1.—(1) These regulations may be cited as the Police (Appointments) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004.

(2) These regulations shall come into operation on 1st October 2004.

Qualifications for appointment

2.—(1) In regulation 9(1)(c) of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Regulations 1996(3) (requirement for candidate to be certified as being in good health, of sound constitution and fitted physically and mentally to perform his duties) the words “in good health, of sound constitution and” shall be omitted.

(2) In regulation 2(2)(c) of the Police (Recruitment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2001(4) (qualified candidate for appointment as a police trainee or police reserve trainee must be certified as being in good health, of sound constitution and fitted physically and mentally to perform the duties of a police officer) the words “in good health, of sound constitution and” shall be omitted.

Part-time appointments

3.—(1) In regulation 5 of the Royal Ulster Constabulary Regulations 1996 (part-time appointments) –

(a) paragraph (3) (under which a part-time appointment to the rank of constable is permitted only where period of probation completed), and

(b) paragraph (4) (under which a part-time appointment to a rank above sergeant must be a job-share arrangement),

shall cease to have effect.

(2) In Schedule 1 to those regulations (modification for part-time service) –

(a) in paragraph 1, in regulation 2(5) as inserted by that paragraph, for “above the rank of sergeant” there shall be substituted “in a job-share arrangement”, and

(b) in paragraph 4, in the substitute provisions for regulation 20 set out in that paragraph –

(i) in regulation 20(4) at the end there shall be inserted “and, in the case of a member who is a disabled person within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995(5), shall consider whether any duty to make reasonable adjustments under section 4A of that Act requires him to alter the member’s normal period of duty”;

(ii) in regulation 20(4ZA) at the end there shall be inserted “or where it appears to the Chief Constable or the member that any duty to make reasonable adjustments under section 4A of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 may require the Chief Constable to alter the member’s normal period of duty”;

(iii) in regulation 20(4ZB) at the end there shall be inserted “and, in the case of a member who is a disabled person within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, shall consider whether any duty to make reasonable adjustments under section 4A of that Act requires him to alter the member’s normal period of duty”; and

(iv) regulation 20(4B) shall cease to have effect.

Paul Murphy

One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of State

Northern Ireland Office

4th September 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations.)

These regulations amend the RUC Regulations 1996 and the Police (Recruitment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2001 in the light of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (S.R. 2004 No. 55), which extend Part II of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 to the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland Reserve.

Regulation 2 amends the criteria for appointing police officers, removing requirements to be of good health and of sound constitution.

Regulation 3 amends the rules on part-time working in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

(1)

1998 c. 32

(2)

1996 c. 16

(3)

S.R. 1996 No. 473; Regulation 9 was inserted by S.R. 2003 No. 184

(4)

S.R. 2001 No. 140, as amended by S.R. 2002 No. 385, S.R. 2003 No. 372 and S.R. 2004 No. 1

(5)

c. 50, section 4A was inserted by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2004 (S.R. 2004 No. 55)