The Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct, Performance and Appeals Tribunals) Regulations 2020

Citation and commencement

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct, Performance and Appeals Tribunals) Regulations 2020 and come into force on 2nd November 2020.

General interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations—

“the 1987 Act” means the Ministry of Defence Police Act 1987;

“the 1998 Act” means the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998(1);

“the 2002 Act” means the Police Reform Act 2002(2);

“the Appeals Tribunals Regulations” means the Regulations set out in Schedule 5;

“the Commissioner” means the officer known as the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner, established under section 33 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006(3);

“complainant” means a person who makes a complaint, or on behalf of whom a complaint is made, where that complaint is being or has been investigated under external procedures established for England and Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland;

“complaint” means an expression of dissatisfaction about the conduct of an MDP officer which has been investigated under external procedures established for England and Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland;

“conduct matter” is any matter which is not and has not been the subject of a complaint but in the case of which there is an indication that an MDP officer may have—

(a)

committed a criminal offence, or

(b)

behaved in a manner which would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings;

“the Conduct Regulations” means the Regulations set out in Schedule 1;

“Director General” means the Director General of the Independent Office for Police Conduct, established under section 9 of the 2002 Act(4);

“document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded;

“external procedures” means—

(a)

in the case of external procedures established for England and Wales, procedures established with the Director General in accordance with an agreement made under section 26(1) of the 2002 Act;

(b)

in the case of external procedures established for Northern Ireland, procedures established with the Ombudsman in accordance with an agreement made under section 60(1) of the 1998 Act(5); or

(c)

in the case of external procedures established for Scotland, procedures—

(i)

established with the Commissioner in accordance with an agreement under article 4 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2007(6),

(ii)

established with the Commissioner in accordance with an agreement under article 3(5) of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 (Consequential Provisions and Modifications) Order 2013(7), or

(iii)

which apply where the Commissioner has been directed to investigate by an “appropriate prosecutor”, and for this purpose “appropriate prosecutor” has the meaning given by section 47 of the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006(8);

“interested person” means any person who the Director General, the Ombudsman or a relevant authority consider has an interest in being kept informed about the handling of a complaint under external procedures established for England and Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland, where that person has given consent to being kept so informed;

“line manager” means the MDP officer or staff member who has immediate supervisory responsibility for the officer concerned;

“MDP” means Ministry of Defence Police;

“MDP officer” means a member of the MDP;

“Ombudsman” means the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland(9);

“the Performance Regulations” means the Regulations set out in Schedule 4;

“pre-commencement allegation” means an allegation against an MDP officer which came to the attention of a relevant authority before the coming into force of these Regulations;

“relevant force” has the meaning given in section 2B(3) of the 1987 Act(10);

“relevant lawyer” has the meaning given in section 4(4) of the 1987 Act;

“senior officer” means a member of the MDP holding a rank above that of chief superintendent;

“staff member” means any person other than an MDP officer who is employed by the Secretary of State for Defence;

“working day” means any day other than—

(a)

a Saturday or Sunday,

(b)

a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(11) in England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland,

(c)

a day which is a public holiday in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Conduct Regulations

3.—(1) Schedule 1 sets out the Conduct Regulations.

(2) Schedule 2 provides for modifications to the Conduct Regulations as they apply to former MDP officers.

(3) Schedule 3 sets out the standards of professional behaviour referred to in the Conduct Regulations.

Performance Regulations

4.  Schedule 4 sets out the Performance Regulations.

Appeals Tribunals Regulations

5.  Schedule 5 sets out the Appeals Tribunals Regulations.

Revocations and transitional provisions

6.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), the following provisions are revoked—

(a) the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct etc.) Regulations 2015(12) (“the 2015 Regulations”);

(b) regulations 2 to 31 of the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct, Performance and Appeals Tribunals) (Amendment) Regulations 2017(13);

(c) regulations 2 to 22 of and the Schedule to Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct and Appeals Tribunals) (Amendment) Regulations 2018(14).

(2) Subject to paragraph 3(7) of Schedule 1, the 2015 Regulations as in force immediately before these Regulations came into force, continue to have effect in relation to—

(a) a pre-commencement allegation,

(b) an allegation against an MDP officer which comes to the attention of a relevant authority on or after 2nd November 2020 and which relates to a matter in respect of which a pre-commencement allegation against that person was made, if at the time the allegation is made the pre-commencement allegation is being handled in accordance with—

(i) the 2015 Regulations, or

(ii) external procedures established for England and Wales, Northern Ireland, or Scotland.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), the following provisions are revoked—

(a) the Ministry of Defence Police (Performance) Regulations 2012(15) (“the 2012 Regulations”);

(b) regulation 64 of and Schedule 3 to the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct etc.) Regulations 2015(16);

(c) regulations 32 to 36 of the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct, Performance and Appeals Tribunals) (Amendment) Regulations 2017.

(4) The 2012 Regulations, as in force immediately before these Regulations come into force, continue to have effect in relation to—

(a) unsatisfactory performance or attendance or gross incompetence which came to the attention of the line manager of an MDP officer or a senior officer before 2nd November 2020;

(b) unsatisfactory performance or attendance or gross incompetence which came to the attention of the line manager of an MDP officer or a senior officer on or after 2nd November 2020 but which relates to a matter being dealt with under the 2012 Regulations.

(5) Subject to paragraph (6), the following provisions are revoked—

(a) the Ministry of Defence Police Appeals Tribunals Regulations 2009(17) (“the 2009 Regulations”);

(b) regulations 37 to 48 of the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct, Performance and Appeals Tribunals) (Amendment) Regulations 2017; and

(c) regulations 23 to 34 of the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct and Appeals Tribunals) (Amendment) Regulations 2018(18).

(6) In relation to an appeal against a decision made in accordance with the Ministry of Defence Police (Conduct etc.) Regulations 2015 or the Ministry of Defence Police (Performance) Regulations 2012, nothing in these Regulations applies and the 2009 Regulations continue to have effect.

Goldie

Minister of State

Ministry of Defence

6th October 2020