Commentary on Sections Schedule 1: Policing of airports
81.Part 3 of the AS Act 1982 deals, inter alia, with the policing of airports that have been designated for policing purposes by the Secretary of State under section 25 of the Act. Under the Act responsibility for policing activity at these airports lies with the relevant chief officer of police and the airport manager must make such payments in respect of policing the airport as the manager and the relevant police authority may agree. If they cannot agree, the Secretary of State may be required to determine the amount to be paid to the police authority by the airport manager (under section 26(3)).
82.Schedule 1 amends the AS Act 1982 in relation to the policing of airports that have been designated under section 25 of the Act.
82.Paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 inserts new sections 25A and 25B into the AS Act 1982. New section 25B requires the manager of a designated aerodrome, the police authority and the chief officer of police to enter into a police services agreement.
83.Before entering into a police services agreement the aerodrome manager and chief officer of police, both of whom have operational responsibility, will be required under new section 25A(2) to consult with those who also carry out protective activities at an airport (specified at section 25A(3)). Section 25A(4) gives the Secretary of State a delegated power to modify these consultation requirements, section 25A(5) providing that the degree of Parliamentary scrutiny should depend on whether the changes to the requirements are agreed by the manager of the aerodrome and the chief officer of police.
84.New section 25B(3) requires that the police services agreement should set out the level of policing services to be provided and specify for the manager of the aerodrome to make the payments for that policing and to provide accommodation and facilities for the police at the aerodrome. Under subsections (3)(b) and (4) of new section 25B, payments may be set out as specified sums or sums assessed in a specified manner and may include references to amounts paid or expected to be paid to the police authority in respect of policing at the airport from sources other than the airport manager. For example, the Home Office may make grants to fund a particular initiative.
85.The police services agreement will need to recognise that circumstances might change during the course of the year, requiring changes to the agreement itself; subsection (6) of new section 25B therefore makes provision for it to be varied if there is such a change.
86.Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 inserts new subsections (2A) to (2E) into section 26 of the AS Act 1982. These provisions apply to aerodromes designated under section 25 of the Act; they define and clarify the relationship between the activities of an airport manager (and other directed parties at an airport) and policing activities.
87.New section 26(2A) therefore requires the chief officer of police to ensure that an appropriate level of policing is provided at a designated aerodrome.
88.New sections 26(2B) and 26(2C) make provisions regarding payments, and the provision of accommodation and facilities, by the aerodrome manager to the police authority in respect of policing at the aerodrome.
89.Paragraph 4 of Schedule 1 inserts new sections 29A to 29D into the AS Act 1982. These new sections make provision for cases where the aerodrome manager, police authority and chief officer of police cannot reach a police services agreement because they disagree on a particular aspect such as the level of policing to be provided, or are in dispute over the terms, construction or operation of an agreement they have previously made. In these cases, the matter will be referred to determination by an independent expert or tribunal of experts.
90.Under subsection (1) of new section 29A, the aerodrome manager, police authority or chief officer of police is entitled to ask the Secretary of State to set up the expert determination.
91.New section 29B provides that the expert should be an independent person appointed by the Secretary of State for the particular dispute, and agreed by the aerodrome manager on one side and the police authority and chief officer of police, acting jointly, for the other side. If these parties cannot agree, the Secretary of State will require each side to appoint an expert and those two experts to appoint a further panel member to act as chairman.
92.New section 29C makes provision for the removal of an expert by the Secretary of State in specified circumstances and sets out how any vacancies in the tribunal are to be filled.
93.New section 29D then sets out how the expert or experts (referred to as the "tribunal") should go about making a determination. Under subsection (2), the expert shall determine the procedure to be followed in determining a dispute, but subsection (3)(b) requires that any procedure must give each party to the dispute an opportunity to make representations. The Secretary of State is also given an opportunity to make representations before the expert by subsection (3)(b), since the policing of airports is part of the wider security measures that the Secretary of State puts in place at an airport.
94.Where the case is referred because the parties cannot reach an agreement, subsections (5) to (7) of new section 29D provide for the expert to declare what the terms of the agreement should be and make an order about costs.
95.Where the dispute concerns a police services agreement which has already been entered into, new section 29D(4) enables the expert to give a declaration about how a provision of an Agreement is to be construed or operated, to vary the terms of an Agreement, to determine that the aerodrome manager is obliged to pay a specified sum to the police authority, and to make an order about costs.
96.Under subsections (8) and (9) of new section 29D the expert or tribunal’s decision will be final and binding, save that a party may appeal to the High Court. An expert’s decision may, with the permission of the High Court, be enforced as if it were a judgment of the High Court (and may, in particular, be enforced by the use of powers in relation to contempt of court).
97.Paragraph 6 of Schedule 1 sets out the transitional provisions that will apply in the period from 21 November 2005, the date on which the Secretary of State made the announcement regarding these amendments to the AS Act 1982, until Royal Assent. These are intended to define the responsibilities of the aerodrome manager, chief officer of police and police authority (set out in new sections 26(2A), (2C) and (2D), and to bring the dispute resolution provisions in new sections 29A to 29D into effect, from that date. The other provisions relating to the policing of designated airports (i.e. regarding the police services agreement) will come into force on Royal Assent.
98.Paragraph 6(1) of Schedule 1 will mean that new sections 26(2A), 26(2C) and 26(2D) of the AS Act 1982 will have taken effect on 21 November 2005. Thus, with effect from that date, policing at designated airports must take into account the security activities of directed parties and any other security or policing activities performed by customs officers, immigration officers or the airport manager. Airport managers must pay police authorities for the reasonable costs incurred for that policing (and provide facilities) and in deciding the amount payable account must be taken of any money available to the police authority from other sources.
99.Paragraph 6(2) of Schedule 1 makes two changes to the provisions which will apply in the period from 21 November 2005 to Royal Assent: firstly, section 26(2A)(b) is adjusted to refer to the preservation of the peace and the prevention of crime. This is because the new terminology of "policing purposes" will not take effect until Royal Assent and the terminology in sections 25 and 26(2A)(b) needs to be consistent in the interim period. Secondly, in the period between 21 November 2005 and Royal Assent there is no requirement for the aerodrome manager and police to enter into a police services agreement. Accordingly, in that period the opening words in section 26(2C) are inappropriate. Paragraph 6(2)(b) of the Schedule adjusts section 26(2C) so that no reference is made to the absence of a police services agreement.
100.Paragraph 6(3) of Schedule 1 back-dates the repeal of the existing section 26(3) of the AS Act 1982 to 21 November 2005, but protects anything done under that section in relation to policing provided before that date.
101.Paragraph 6(4) of Schedule 1 applies the new dispute resolution procedures in sections 29A to D to the period commencing 21 November 2005, so that any disputes that arise now and relate to policing provided after that date can be dealt with in the new way. (Any dispute will be judged against the requirement that policing should complement other security/protective activity at an airport, which is set out in new section 26(2A).)
102.Paragraph 6(5) of Schedule 1 applies the new definition of immigration officer in paragraph 5 of the Schedule in the period commencing on 21 November 2005. (The actions of immigration officers are to be taken into account in the policing of the airport under section 26(2A).)
103.Paragraph 6(6) of Schedule 1 ensures that there is a definition of "relevant persons" that applies in the period 21 November 2005 to Royal Assent. The definition is needed in relation to the references to “relevant persons” in sections 29A to 29D. On Royal Assent the definition in section 25B(10) will come into force to replace the definition inserted into section 31(1) of the AS Act 1982.