Part 4: Police Powers Chapter 3: Powers Under PACE: Miscellaneous Section 78: PACE: consultation on codes of practice
Section 66 of PACE provides for the Secretary of State to issue codes of practice which govern the use of police powers under PACE. Sections 60 and 60A separately provide for the Secretary of State to issue codes of practice specifically relating to the tape-recording and visual recording of interviews. Section 67 of PACE makes further provision in respect of the procedure for making of codes of practice, including a duty to consult specified consultees (including persons representing the views of PCCs, the NPCC (see paragraph 5(a) of Schedule 14 to this Act) and the Law Society of England and Wales) before issuing or revising a code of practice.
	This section inserts new subsections (4A) to (4C) into section 67 of PACE, which qualify the duty to consult under subsection (4).
	New subsection (4A) removes the duty to consult on revisions to the codes of practice under section 67(4) PACE where: (a) the proposed revision is consequential to legislation (as defined in new subsection (4C)); and (b) there is no discretion as to the nature of the revision. New subsection (4B) requires the Secretary of State to publish a statement upon issuing a revised code under new subsection (4A) stating that the criteria specified therein apply. The aim of this amendment is to enable a timely revision to the codes of practice where a formal public consultation exercise would cause delay in making revisions which would be made, in content and in form, irrespective of the consultation exercise. An example of where this would be used is the 2015 amendment of section 37(15) PACE (Duties of custody officer after charge: arrested juveniles) by section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 to re-define 'arrested juvenile' to include 17 year olds. As a result of this change to PACE, PACE code of practice C was similarly amended.