# Local Government and Housing Act 1989, Section 4: Designation and reports of head of paid service.

Extent: E+W+S

(1) It shall be the duty of every relevant authority—
(a) to designate one of their officers as the head of their paid service; and
(b) to provide that officer with such staff, accommodation and other resources as are, in his opinion, sufficient to allow his duties under this section to be performed.
(1A) In the case of an elected local policing body, the body's chief executive is to be taken to have been designated as the head of the body's paid service (and, accordingly, subsection (1)(a) does not apply; but references to persons designated under this section include references to the body's chief executive).
(2) It shall be the duty of the head of a relevant authority’s paid service, where he considers it appropriate to do so in respect of any proposals of his with respect to any of the matters specified in subsection (3) below, to prepare a report to the authority setting out his proposals.
(3) Those matters are—
(a) the manner in which the discharge by the authority of their different functions is co-ordinated;
(b) the number and grades of staff required by the authority for the discharge of their functions;
(c) the organisation of the authority’s staff; and
(d) the appointment and proper management of the authority’s staff.
(4) It shall be the duty of the head of a relevant authority’s paid service, as soon as practicable after he has prepared a report under this section, to arrange for a copy of it to be sent—
(a) in the case of an elected local policing body, to the body and to the police and crime panel for the body's police area; and
(aa) in the case of a fire and rescue authority created by an order under section 4A of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, to the authority and to the police and crime panel for the police area—
(i) which corresponds to the authority's area, or
(ii) within which the area of the authority falls;
(ab) in the case of the London Fire Commissioner, to the Commissioner;
(b) in any other case, to each member of the authority.
(5) It shall be the duty of a relevant authority (other than an elected local policing body) to consider any report under this section by the head of their paid service at a meeting held not more than three months after copies of the report are first sent to members of the authority; and nothing in section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972 or in section 56 of , or Schedule 10 or 20 to, the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (delegation) shall apply to the duty imposed by virtue of this subsection.
(5A) It shall be the duty of an elected local policing body to consider any report under this section by the head of the body's paid service, and to do so no later than three months after the body is sent a copy of the report.
(5B) It shall be the duty of a fire and rescue authority created by an order under section 4A of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 to consider any report under this section by the head of the authority's paid service and to do so no later than three months after the authority is sent a copy of the report.
(5C) It shall be the duty of the London Fire Commissioner to consider any report under this section by the head of the Commissioner's paid service and to do so no later than three months after the Commissioner is sent a copy of the report.
(6) In this section “relevant authority”—
(a) in relation to England ..., means a local authority of any of the descriptions specified in paragraphs (a) to (e) and (ja) to (jc) of section 21(1) below , an elected local policing body , a fire and rescue authority created by an order under section 4A of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and the London Fire Commissioner;
(aa) in relation to Wales, means an elected local policing body; and
(b) in relation to Scotland, council constituted under section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994.
(7) This section shall come into force at the expiry of the period of two months beginning on the day this Act is passed.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/42/section/4 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/local-government-and-housing-act-1989/section-4
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.