The Police And Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary Of State For The Home Department

In February 2022 the government published its White Paper “Levelling Up the United Kingdom”. One part of that document (in Chapter 2) is headed “Empowering Local Decision-making”. Towards the end of that section is the following:

“The UK Government will take steps to remove barriers to combined authority mayors taking on public safety functions. Where there are existing or planned mayoral combined authorities with coterminous boundaries to PCCs and Fire and Rescue Authorities, the UK Government will look to transfer the functions to the Mayor. For remaining MCAs, resolution to any challenges will be sought, including exploring aligning boundaries.”

A power to achieve that, to provide for elected mayors to exercise the functions of police and crime commissioners, already existed in section 107F of the 2009 Act. That section had been added to the 2009 Act, in January 2016, by the Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016. With effect from 26 October 2023, section 107F of the 2009 Act was amended by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023. As presently in force, section 107F is as follows:

The Secretary of State may by order provide for the mayor for the area of a combined authority to exercise functions of a police and crime commissioner in relation to that area.

The reference in subsection (1) to functions of a police and crime commissioner is to any functions conferred on police and crime commissioners by or under—