Overview
3.The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act comprises of five Parts and seventeen Schedules. The explanatory notes are divided into five Parts reflecting the structure of the Act. A summary of each Part is provided below. Commentary on each Part is then set out in section order, with the commentary on each Schedule following the section that introduces it.
4.Part 1: Police Reform contains provisions to abolish police authorities (excluding the City of London) and replace them with directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners for each police force outside London, and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime for the Metropolitan Police.
5.Police and Crime Commissioners will be responsible for holding the chief constable of their police force to account for the full range of their responsibilities. The chief constable will retain responsibility for the direction and control of the police force. Part 1 also contains provisions for establishing Police and Crime Panels for each police area. The role of the Police and Crime Panel will be to advise and scrutinise the work of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
6.Part 1 states the basic duties of a Police and Crime Commissioner. These include publishing a police and crime plan, setting the local police and crime objectives, and setting the local precept and annual force budget (including contingency reserves) in discussion with the chief constable. Provisions are also included in Part 1 for Police and Crime Commissioners to appoint, suspend and dismiss the chief constable of their police force. The appointment of all other officers will remain a matter for the chief constable.
7.Part 1 makes provisions for replacing the Metropolitan Police Authority with the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, to be run by the Mayor of London.  The Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime will have the same powers as a Police and Crime Commissioner, except appointing the Metropolitan Police Service Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner (the Queen will continue to appoint both the Metropolitan Commissioner and Deputy Metropolitan Commissioner on the advice of the Home Secretary). A committee of the London Assembly will act as the Police and Crime Panel for the metropolitan police district. The composition of the panel is at the discretion of the London Assembly, and it may include independent members.
8.Part 1 also contains provisions for the first and subsequent elections of Police and Crime Commissioners.  The first ordinary election will be on 15 November 2012 and subsequent elections will be on the ‘ordinary day of election’ (as defined), although there is power for the Secretary of State to vary this date by order. Elections for Police and Crime Commissioners will happen every four years from 2012.
9.Part 2: Licensing contains provisions to amend the Licensing Act 2003 to give licensing authorities, the police, local authorities with responsibility for controlling noise nuisance, and communities an increased role in licensing decisions. Provisions also enable Primary Care Trusts (and Local Health Boards in Wales) to have a say in licensing processes.
10.Part 2 gives greater powers to licensing authorities to remove or refuse licences by enabling them to fulfil the same functions as existing responsible authorities, and to communities to make representations in relation to licensing decisions or call for a review of licensed premises. There is provision for doubling the maximum fine for premises which persistently sell alcohol to those under 18, and increasing the period of suspensions which can be imposed on such premises. Provisions reduce the evidential burden on licensing authorities and the police when making decisions under the Licensing Act 2003. Provisions also give licensing authorities greater flexibility in making early morning restriction orders; they will be able to make such orders for the whole, or part, of their areas for a period of any duration between midnight and 6am, and will be able to impose different restrictions on different days.
11.Part 2 introduces greater flexibility in relation to the scrutiny and utility of temporary event notices. The police and local authorities exercising environmental health functions will be able to object to a temporary event notice on the basis of all the licensing objectives in the Licensing Act 2003, and licensing authorities will be able to impose conditions on a temporary event notice in limited circumstances. Provisions will also enable premises users, in any calendar year, to hold a single event under a temporary event notice for up to seven days, use a single premises for up to 21 days and to give a limited number of temporary event notices later than the existing process permits.
12.Part 2 will bolster the ability of licensing authorities to enforce payment of unpaid fees by providing for the suspension of a premises licence or club premises certificate for non-payment of an annual fee. Provisions also impose a requirement on the Secretary of State to review the impact of all the amendments introduced by Part 2 into the regulatory regime under the Licensing Act 2003 after a period of five years following their coming into force.
13.Part 2 makes provision to enable licensing authorities to introduce a levy in their areas which will be payable by premises which supply alcohol as a part of the late night economy. Licensing authorities will be able to impose the levy on such premises for a period of any duration between midnight and 6am, although some premises may benefit from an exemption or discount. At least 70% of the funds generated by the levy will be paid to the police and crime commissioner and it is intended also to pay such funds to bodies which operate measures to address the effect of alcohol related crime and disorder.
14.Part 3: Parliament Square Garden and surrounding area contains a new legal framework for Parliament Square which aims to prevent encampments and other disruptive activity. The provisions confer power on constables and authorised officers to prohibit persons from engaging in certain activities in a specified area of Parliament Square (being the central garden area and adjoining pavements), including the unauthorised operation of any amplified noise equipment; the erection and keeping erect of tents or other structures designed to facilitate sleeping or staying in a place for any period; the using of any tent or structure to sleep or stay in the area, and the placing or using of any sleeping equipment for the purpose of sleeping overnight in the area.
15.Part 3 also repeals existing provisions governing protests in the vicinity of Parliament set out in sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005. The 2005 Act made it an offence to organise or take part in a demonstration in the designated area around Parliament without the authorisation of the Metropolitan Police or use a loudspeaker in the designated area. One of the effects of repeal is that section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 (powers to impose conditions on assemblies) will once again apply to static demonstrations held in the area around Parliament, thereby bringing the policing of protests back in line with the policing of protests in the rest of the country.
16.Part 4: Miscellaneous amends the Greater London Authority Act 1999, the Local Government Act 1972 and the Parks Regulation (Amendment) Act 1926 to enable local authorities to attach powers of seizure and retention of any property in connection with any breach of a byelaw made under section 385 of the Greater London Authority Act, section 235 of the Local Government Act and any breach of regulations made under section 2 of the Parks Regulation (Amendment) Act.
17.Part 4: Misuse of drugs amends the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 by introducing a new power for the Secretary of State temporarily to control a substance for up to one year by statutory instrument.
18.There are also measures in Part 4 to amend the constitution of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs by removing the statutory requirement on the Secretary of State to appoint members with experience in specified activities. This will allow for greater flexibility in the membership of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.
19.Part 4: Arrest warrants gives effect to a commitment of the Justice Secretary announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 22nd July 2010 that the Government intended to bring forward a legislative amendment to require the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) before an arrest warrant can be issued on the application of a private prosecutor in respect of offences over which the United Kingdom has asserted universal jurisdiction. These offences, which include war crimes under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957, may be tried in England and Wales notwithstanding that the crime took place outside the United Kingdom, and regardless of the nationality or residence of the offender. Requiring the DPP’s consent is intended to ensure that an arrest warrant is issued only where there is a prospect of successful prosecution.
20.Part 5: Final Provisions contains technical sections on orders and regulations, money, the territorial extent of the Act, how sections are to be commenced and the short title for the Act.