Section 5: Authorities responsible for strategies., Crime and Disorder Act 1998

Subject to the provisions of this section, the functions conferred by or under section 6 below shall be exercisable in relation to each local government area by the responsible authorities, that is to say—

the council for the area and, where the area is a district and the council is not a unitary authority, the council for the county which includes the district;

every provider of probation services operating within the area in pursuance of arrangements under section 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007 which provide for it to be a responsible authority under this section;

every chief officer of police any part of whose police area lies within the area.

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every fire and rescue authority any part of whose area so lies;

if the local government area is in England, every integrated care board the whole or any part of whose area so lies; and

if the local government area is in Wales, every Local Health Board the whole or any part of whose area so lies.

The relevant local policing body in relation to two or more local government areas in England may make a combination agreement with the responsible authorities in relation to those areas (the “combined area”).

A combination agreement is an agreement for the functions conferred by or under section 6 or by section 7 to be carried out in relation to the combined area as if it constituted only one local government area.

The responsible authorities in relation to a combined area are all the persons who are the responsible authorities in relation to each local government area that falls within the combined area.

Section 5A contains further provision about the making and contents of combination agreements.

A combination agreement—

may require the councils for the local government areas in question to appoint a joint committee of those councils (the “joint crime and disorder committee”) and to arrange for crime and disorder scrutiny functions in relation to any (or all) of those councils to be exercisable by that committee;

may make provision applying any of the relevant provisions, with or without modifications, in relation to a joint crime and disorder committee.

In subsection (1C)—

“crime and disorder scrutiny functions”, in relation to a council, means functions that are, or, but for a combination agreement, would be, exercisable by the crime and disorder committee of the council under section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006 (local authority scrutiny of crime and disorder matters);
“the relevant provisions” means—
(a)section 19 of the Police and Justice Act 2006;
(b)section 20 of that Act and any regulations made under that section;
(c)Schedule 8 to that Act;
(d)section 9F, 9FA or 21 of the Local Government Act 2000.

The “relevant local policing body”, in relation to a combined area, is—

if the area falls (wholly or partly) within the police area of a police and crime commissioner, the commissioner,

if the area falls (wholly or partly) within the metropolitan police district, the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime, and

if the area falls partly within the City of London, the Secretary of State.

If there is more than one relevant local policing body in relation to a combined area by virtue of subsection (1E), the references in subsection (1A) above and section 5A(2) to the relevant local policing body in relation to the combined area are references to each of the relevant local policing bodies for that area acting jointly.

In exercising the functions conferred by or under section 6, the responsible authorities shall act in co-operation with the following persons and bodies, namely—

every local probation board any part of whose area lies within the area;

every provider of probation services operating within the area in pursuance of arrangements under section 3 of the Offender Management Act 2007 which provide for it to co-operate under this subsection with the responsible authorities;

every person or body of a description which is for the time being prescribed by order of the Secretary of State under this subsection ; and

where they are acting in relation to an area in Wales, every person or body which is of a description which is for the time being prescribed by an order under this subsection of the National Assembly for Wales;

and it shall be the duty of those persons and bodies to co-operate in the exercise by the responsible authorities of the functions conferred by or under section 6.

The responsible authorities shall also invite the participation in their exercise of those functions of at least one person or body of each description which is for the time being prescribed by order of the Secretary of State under this subsection and, in the case of the responsible authorities for an area in Wales, of any person or body of a description for the time being prescribed by an order under this subsection of the National Assembly for Wales.

In this section and sections 6 and 7 below “local government area” means—

in relation to England, each district or London borough, the City of London, the Isle of Wight and the Isles of Scilly;

in relation to Wales, each county or county borough.

In this section—

“fire and rescue authority” means—
(a)a fire and rescue authority constituted by a scheme under section 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 or a scheme to which section 4 of that Act applies;
(aa)a fire and rescue authority created by an order under section 4A of that Act;
(b)a metropolitan county fire and civil defence authority; or
(c)the London Fire Commissioner. . . .
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The appropriate national authority may by order amend this section by—

adding an entry for any person or body to the list of authorities in subsection (1),

altering or repealing an entry for the time being included in the list, or

adding, altering or repealing provisions for the interpretation of entries in the list.

In this section the “appropriate national authority”, in relation to a person or body, means—

the National Assembly for Wales, if all the functions of the person or body are devolved Welsh functions;

the Secretary of State and the Assembly acting jointly, if the functions of the person or body include devolved Welsh functions and other functions; and

the Secretary of State, if none of the functions of the person or body are devolved Welsh functions.

In subsection (7), “devolved Welsh functions” means functions which are dischargeable only in relation to Wales and relate to matters in relation to which the Assembly has functions.

Section 5: Authorities responsible for strategies.

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