Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

The bill has received royal assent and is now an act. You can read about the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act on the Parliament website.

Progress of the bill

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill was introduced in the House of Commons on 30 November 2010. It completed its Committee stages in the Commons on 17 February 2011 and the bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 1 April. The Lords Committee stages were completed on 16 June, report stages on 15 July and third reading on 20 July.

What will the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill do?

The bill includes the following provisions:

making the police service more accountable to local people by replacing police authorities with directly elected police and crime commissioners to be introduced from May 2012
overhauling the Licensing Act to give more powers to local authorities and police to tackle any premises that are causing problems, doubling the maximum fine for persistent underage sales and permitting local authorities to charge more for late-night licences to contribute towards the cost of policing the late-night economy
introducing a system of temporary bans for new psychoactive substances, so-called 'legal highs', whilst the health issues are considered by independent experts, to ensure our legislative process can respond quickly to emerging harmful substances
restoring the right to non-violent protest around Parliament whilst ensuring that Parliament Square remains accessible to all by repealing sections 132-138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) 2005 and prohibiting encampments and other disruptive activity on Parliament Square
amending the process for issuing private arrest warrants for universal jurisdiction offences to ensure that they are issued only where there is a reasonable prospect of successful prosecution

For more information on the bill and its passage through Parliament, please see the Parliament website.

Background

In the Queen’s 2010 speech, the government announced the introduction of legislation that would make the police service more accountable to local people and tackle alcohol-related violence.

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill provides for this and other key coalition agreement commitments. It marks the next step in the government’s programme to reduce central bureaucracy, increase democratic accountability and empower local communities.

Policing minister, Nick Herbert, laid out his vision for police reform at a speech to the Insititute for Public Policy Research on 28 March 2011. Read the news story.

Factsheets

Including:

Useful documents

Coalition agreement
Policing in the 21st century: reconnecting police and the people and the response document. Welsh language versions are also available: Plismona yn yr 21ain Ganrif: Ailgysylltu'r heddlu a'r bobl and Crynodeb o ymatebion i’r ymgynghoriad a chamau nesaf
Rebalancing the Licensing Act consultation, government response and independent analysis.
Impact assessments and equality impact assessments are available to download below.

Date: Tue Nov 30 09:30:00 GMT 2010

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