Charitable and Community Events

The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. To a degree, I accept what he says. I was illustrating the fact that there is much debate about the matter in respect of commercial and community or charitable events. Section 25 of the Police Act 1996 replaced a similar provision in section 15(1) of the Police Act 1964. Prior to those statutory provisions, the practice of lending constables has been recognised since the 19th century. There are three key elements to section 25. First, anyone may ask the chief constable of a police force to provide special services. Secondly, it is for the chief constable to decide whether or not to provide those services. In reaching a decision whether to provide services, the chief constable is likely to take into account the overall resources available and the impact of providing the special services on the policing that would otherwise be provided to the community. The third key element is that it is for the police authority to determine the scale of charges. In practice, most day-to-day decisions are likely to be delegated to the chief officer of the force. Section 25 clearly requires a request for services to be made before the question of charging arises—an important point. The police cannot unilaterally impose a charge. In some cases the request may be made by a person other than the organiser or promoter of an event. For example, the owner of land on which an event is to be held may ask for special police services to be provided, and he may then pass on any policing costs to the organisers of the event. Section 25 does not describe what constitutes special police services. From time to time, there have been disputes about whether particular services fall within the bounds of section 25 or of previous provisions. Judgments in court cases arising from such disputes provide the main guidance to the interpretation of section 25. A judgment was recently given in the Court of Appeal; the hon. Member for Totnes referred to that case, and I shall say more about it later. First, however, it may be useful to say more about the definition of special services. The broad definition set out in case law is that special police services are those provided over and above the general obligation of the police to maintain law and order and to keep the peace. Examples of special police services include the provision of policing at football stadiums, at concert venues and at motor racing grand prix. In those examples, much or all of the policing service is provided on private property, and the courts have identified that as an important factor in deciding whether special police services are being provided. Other events may involve the provision of some special police services. For instance, special police services may be requested for large-scale private parties or to provide an additional police presence at funfairs. No central record is maintained of the events for which charges are made under section 25. However, figures published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy indicate that police forces in England and Wales received income of about £23 million from providing special police services in 2004-05. The hon. Member for Totnes may be interested to know that that is the latest year for which figures are available. That sum represents about one quarter of 1 per cent. of the net budgets of forces in England and Wales. It is clearly sensible for the organisers of events at which special police services may be required to discuss the likely policing requirements with the police, in advance. It is evidently in the interests of all parties to reach a clear agreement about what services are to be provided under section 25 and what the cost will be.