Part 2: Police Complaints, Discipline and Inspection Chapter 5: IPCC: Re-naming and Organisational Change Schedule 9: Independent Office for Police Conduct
Part 1 of Schedule 9 amends Schedule 2 to the 2002 Act. It provides for establishing specific organisational and governance arrangements for the Office including: the processes and conditions for the appointment of members of the Office (the Director General, non-executive members and employee members); remuneration arrangements; arrangements for the appointment of the Office’s staff; the delegation of the Director General’s functions; the protection of the Director General from personal liability; arrangements and conditions for setting up regional offices; and arrangements for the proceedings of the corporate body, including the requirement to establish an audit committee.
	Paragraph 11 inserts new paragraph 6A into Schedule 2 to the 2002 Act to provide the Director General with various powers of delegation. These provisions reflect the new structure of the IOPC in which all of the existing functions of the IPCC, including its investigative functions, will become functions of the Director General. To support the efficient and effective carrying out of those functions, the Director General will, in practice, need to be able to delegate tasks and functions to members of staff, while ultimately remaining accountable.
	New paragraph 6A(1) and (3) provides the Director General with a general power to delegate functions and to authorise a person to exercise any of the Director General’s function on behalf of the Director General.
	New paragraph 6A(2) provides for the categories of person who the Director General may authorise to carry out a function, namely - employee members of the Office, staff of the IOPC and constables on secondment. New paragraph 6A(4) and (5) provide for the arrangements that may be put in place, and the extent to which a function may be delegated – for example to its full extent or subject to certain conditions specified by the Director General.
	New paragraph 6A(6) provides the Director General with a power to specify that "restricted persons" may not exercise "designated functions" (as defined in paragraph 6A(7)(a) and (b)). A restricted person is a person who falls within section 9(3) of the 2002 Act, that is, a person who has held the office of constable in any part of the UK or who has worked for a specified law enforcement agency.
	Presently, all members of the Commission must not be restricted persons and, in future, the Director General must not be a restricted person. No such legislative bar exists for any employees of the IPCC, and the organisation currently employs a number of individuals, including investigative staff, who have held the office of constable or who are serving constables on secondment from their force.
	As members of the Commission itself cannot have held the office of constable, any work undertaken by the IPCC’s staff is ultimately overseen by a person who is independent from the police, and the Commission is ultimately accountable for investigation decisions. In the new governance structure, the Director General will be the "single-head" and also must not have held the office of constable. The Director General will take on all the functions of the IPCC, including investigative functions, and therefore ultimately the work of the IOPC’s staff will be overseen by a person who is independent from the police and accountable for investigation decisions.
	The provisions in new paragraph 6A, and in particular sub-paragraphs (6) to (8), provide for the Director General to determine, as he or she considers appropriate, the roles and tasks, that is, "designated functions", that may or may not be carried out by a person who has held the office of constable (that is, a "restricted person"). These provisions are designed to support the Director General in carrying out his or her functions; with particular regard to the function to secure that public confidence is established and maintained in the police complaints system, and to ensure that arrangements for handling complaints manifest an appropriate degree of independence.
	New paragraph 6A(7)(a) provides that, in determining whether a function is a "designated function", the Director General may in particular make reference to the position or seniority of members of staff. This provides for the Director General to be able to determine that a particular function is a designated function if being performed at a certain level of seniority (for example, a particular function related to investigations).
	New paragraph 6A(8) provides for the Director General to determine the circumstances when a restricted person is to be treated as not being a restricted person whether generally or in respect of a particular function and, therefore, not prevented from carrying out a designated function.
	To provide transparency in the exercise of the Director General’s powers of delegation, new paragraph 6A(9) and (10) provide that the Director General must publish a statement of policy about how he or she proposes to exercise their powers under paragraph 6A(7)(a) and (8), and for requirements on the information that should be included in the statement.
	New paragraph 6A(11) provides that the powers conferred on the Director General under new paragraph 6A(7)(a) and (8) are subject to any regulations of the kind mentioned in section 23(2)(g) of the 2002 Act. This section provides the Secretary of State with a power to make regulations limiting the persons who may be appointed to carry out or assist with investigations.
	New paragraph 6A(12) to (14) provides for the Director General to exercise a function himself or herself and also provide that, anything done or not done by a person authorised to carry out a delegated function, is to be treated as having been done or not done by, or in relation to, the Director General. New paragraph 6A(14) provides for an exception in cases of any criminal proceedings brought in respect of anything done or not done by the authorised person.
	Part 2 of Schedule 9 provides for further minor and consequential amendments to the 2002 Act. Paragraph 56 provides for amendments to Schedule 3 to the 2002 Act (handling of complaints and conduct matters). Presently, the Commission and persons appointed to investigate cases have a number of distinct roles in the investigation process. For example, decisions, such as whether to refer a matter to the Crown Prosecution Service, are taken by the Commission but responsibility and accountability for the investigation and the report, upon which such decisions are taken, rests with the individual investigator. The amendments to Schedule 3 provide for the Director General to be responsible for investigations and investigation decisions, and that persons to whom the Director General delegates powers to carry out investigations are exercising those powers on behalf of the Director General.
	Part 3 provides for minor and consequential amendments to other Acts of Parliament.