Part 2: Police Complaints, Discipline and Inspection Chapter 2: Police Super-Complaints Section 26: Bodies who may make super-complaints
This section inserts new section 29B into the 2002 Act which makes provision for designating bodies who will be eligible to make a super-complaint. New section 29B(1) and (2) confer a power on the Secretary of State (in practice, the Home Secretary), by regulations (subject to the negative procedure), to designate (or revoke the designation of) a body as able to make super-complaints. Such bodies may, for example, be charities or advocacy groups. The Secretary of State may delegate the decision to designate a body to an authorised person specified in regulations (subject to the negative procedure). Under this power, the Home Secretary could appoint an independent person, such as a Queen’s Counsel, to make decisions on designation. When deciding whether to designate a body for the purposes of new section 29B, the Secretary of State or the authorised person, as appropriate, must apply criteria set out in regulations (new section 29B(3) and (4)). It is envisaged the criteria for designated body status in a policing super-complaints system would include a requirement of experience in representing the interests of the public. Candidates for designation would also need to be able to demonstrate that they had the capacity and capability to test and compile a range of evidence to form the basis for a super-complaint.