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

(1)

1998 c. 32.

(2)

2002 c. 30.

(3)

2006 asp. 10. Section 33 was amended by section 61 of the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2020 (asp. 8).

(4)

The Director General is the person appointed by Her Majesty under section 9(1)(a) of the 2002 Act. Subsection (1) was substituted by s.33(2), (4) of the Policing and Crime Act 2017.

(5)

Section 60(1) was amended by paragraph 23 of Schedule 6 to, the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 and S.I. 2010/976.

(6)

S.I. 2007/1098. Article 4 was amended by section 11 of, and Schedule 6 to, the Crime and Courts Act 2013 (c. 22).

(7)

S.I. 2013/602, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations.

(8)

2006 asp. 10.

(9)

The Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland is established by s. 51 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998 (c. 32).

(10)

Section 2B was inserted by section 78 of the Police Reform Act 2002 (c. 30) and the definition of “relevant force” was amended by paragraph 5 of Schedule 14 and paragraph 1 of Schedule 23 to the Energy Act 2004 (c. 20), S.I. 2005/877, S.I. 2006/378, S.I. 2013/602.

(11)

1971 c. 80.