The Act Commentary on Sections Schedule 8: Further provision about crime and disorder committees of certain local authorities Section 20: Guidance and regulations regarding crime and disorder matters
209.Subsection (1) gives the Secretary or State the power to issue guidance regarding the overview and scrutiny of CDRPs either to local authorities in England, to local councillors of those authorities or to their crime and disorder committees directly.
210.Subsection (2) gives a similar power to the National Assembly for Wales, exercisable after consultation with the Secretary of State, in relation to Wales.
211.Subsection (3) enables the Secretary of State to make regulations to supplement the provisions of section 19 in relation to local authorities in England. Subsection (4) enables the Secretary of State, after consultation with the National Assembly for Wales, to make similar provision in relation to local authorities in Wales.
212.Subsection (5) provides a non-exhaustive list of matters which might be dealt with in regulations. The regulations may include provisions in relation to co-option of members to the crime and disorder committee, the frequency with which the committee should scrutinise the functioning of the CDRP/CSP, what information can be sought by the committee, requiring representatives of co-operating bodies or responsible authorities to attend before the committee to answer questions, the period within which the council executive and/or councillor must respond to a matter referred to it by a complainant, the period within which the committee should consider a matter referred by the councillor or council executive, the period within which the responsible authorities and co-operating bodies should respond to a report or recommendations made by the committee, and how a person should refer a matter to a member of a local authority or its executive.
213.Subsection (6) allows the regulations to give co-opted members of crime and disorder committees voting rights on the committee.
214.Subsection (7) provides that the terms “local authority”, “crime and disorder committee”, “responsible authorities” and “co-operating persons and bodies” have the same meaning as in section 19.