Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland) 1950
An Act to make further provision for civil defence.
[30th May 1950]
1. Suspension and revival of Civil Defence Acts.
— (1) The operation of the Civil Defence Acts is hereby suspended:
Provided that the Ministry of Home Affairs (in this Act referred to as the Ministry ) may by regulations bring again into operation any provision of the Civil Defence Acts.
(2) Regulations made under this section may, as respects any provisions of the Civil Defence Acts to which they relate, make such modifications as appear to the Ministry to be necessary or expedient, having regard to — (b)
changes in the law; or
(c)
changes in the relevant circumstances, including, in particular, any actual or apprehended developments in the forms of warfare.
2. Civil defence functions of the Ministry.
— (1) It shall be part of the functions of the Ministry to take such steps as appear to it from time to time to be necessary or expedient for civil defence purposes, and, in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the preceding words, such steps as appear to the Ministry from time to time to be necessary or expedient in connection with any of the following matters, that is to say:
— (a)
the organisation, formation, maintenance, equipment and training of civil defence forces and services;
(b)
the organisation, equipment and training for civil defence purposes of police forces and employees of public bodies (as defined in this Act) employed primarily for purposes other than civil defence purposes;
(c)
the instruction of members of the public in civil defence and their equipment for the purposes of civil defence;
(d)
the provision, storage and maintenance of commodities and things required for civil defence; and
(e)
the provision, construction, maintenance or alteration of premises, structures or excavations required for civil defence and the doing of any other work required for civil defence.
Subs. (2) rep. by SI 1973/2163
(3) If it appears to the Ministry to be necessary or expedient for any of the purposes of this Act, the Ministry may — (a)
by order establish a body or bodies consisting of such members as may be designated by the order, who shall hold office on such terms and subject to such conditions as shall be specified in the order;
(b)
delegate to any body so established such of the functions of the Ministry under this Act as may be prescribed, or specified in the relevant order.
3. Civil defence functions of public bodies.
— (1) Public bodies shall, for civil defence purposes, and, in particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the preceding words, in connection with the matters specified in paragraphs (
a ) to (
e ) of sub-section (1) of the last preceding section, have and perform such functions as may be prescribed in relation to them by regulations made by the Ministry.
(2) Regulations made under this section — (a)
may require that, as respects the exercise of any functions conferred on them under this section, any public body shall be bound to comply with any directions given to them by the Ministry;
(b)
may empower public bodies on whom functions are conferred under this section to appoint committees (including joint committees) constituted in accordance with the regulations, whether from among their own members or not, may empower those public bodies to authorise those or other committees, or other public bodies, to exercise all or any of those functions on their behalf as their agents, and may exclude any of those functions from the operation of so much of any statutory provision as would otherwise require that function, or any question connected therewith, to be delegated to, or to stand referred to, or to be considered or otherwise dealt with by, any particular committee or any other authority;
(c)
may empower the Ministry, where it is satisfied that a public body have failed or refused properly to discharge any functions conferred on them under this section, either itself to discharge those functions or to authorise or require some other public body or person to exercise those functions;
(d)
may, on such conditions, if any, as may be prescribed by the regulations, authorise or require things to be done in contravention of, or without compliance with, any statutory provision regulating or restricting the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land; and
(e)
may authorise the employment of personnel, and the provision, construction or maintenance of premises and equipment, in excess of any limits imposed by any enactment.
4. Powers as to land.
— (1) Where it appears to the Ministry to be necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving effect to any of the provisions of this Act that any land should be acquired, the Ministry may acquire, whether by agreement or compulsorily in accordance with the provisions of the next succeeding sub-section, that land and any easements or rights in or over any land adjacent thereto.
(2) The Ministry shall, where it desires to acquire otherwise than by agreement any such land, easement, or right as aforesaid, have power to make an order (in this Act referred to as a vesting order ) vesting such land, easement or right (as the case may be) in it and the provisions of [ paragraphs (3) and (4) or Article 10 of, and Schedule 3 to, the Drainage (Northern Ireland) Order 19731973 NI 1
], shall, with the modifications thereof specified in the next succeeding sub-section, apply for the purpose of the making of vesting orders under this section, and shall have effect in relation to every vesting order so made, as if the said provisions as so modified were incorporated in this Act and in terms made applicable thereto.
(3) The said provisions as applied for the purpose aforesaid shall have effect as if — (a)
references therein to the Ministry of Agriculture were references to the Ministry;
references therein to the said Order were references to this Act; and
(c)
references therein to Article 10 of that Order were references to this section.]
(4) Any person duly authorised in that behalf by the Ministry shall have a right to enter any land at all reasonable hours for the purpose of inspecting that or any other land with a view to ascertaining whether or not anything ought to be constructed or done thereon or any use made thereof for civil defence purposes:
Provided that a person proposing to exercise a power of entry conferred under this section — (a)
shall, if so required, produce some duly authenticated document showing his authority;
(b)
shall not demand admission as of right to any land which is occupied unless twenty-four hours' notice of the intended entry has been given to the occupier.
(5) If — (a)
any person who, in compliance with the provisions of this section, is admitted into a factory or workplace, discloses, otherwise than in the performance of his duty, to any person any information obtained by him in the factory or workplace with regard to any manufacturing process or trade secret; or
(b)
any person to whom, by reason of his official position, any information obtained as aforesaid is disclosed, discloses, otherwise than in the performance of his duty, that information to any person;
he shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding [ level 3 on the standard scale ] or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
5. Civil defence obligations of certain persons.
It is hereby declared that if and so far as provision in that behalf is made by regulations, employees of public bodies employed primarily for purposes other than civil defence purposes, are, as such, under a duty to comply with requirements as to training for and taking part in any form of civil defence for the time being recognised by the Ministry as appropriate to be undertaken by employees of the class concerned having regard to the nature of the work for which those persons are primarily employed.
6. Expenditure.
— (1) Except as otherwise provided by or under regulations made under section one of this Act with the approval of the Ministry of Finance
, no grants shall be payable under the Civil Defence Acts in respect of expenditure incurred for civil defence purposes.
(2) Subject to … any such regulations as are referred to in the preceding sub-section, all expenditure incurred with the approval of the Ministry of Finance by or under the diriction of the Ministry in carrying into effect the provisions of this Act or any provisions of the Civil Defence Acts shall be defrayed out of moneys provided by [ the Parliament of the United Kingdom].
Subs. (3) ‐ (5) rep. by SRO (NI) 1973/341; subs. (6) rep. by 1972 NI 16
(7) No regulations shall be made under this section unless a draft thereof has, after approval by the Ministry of Finance , been laid before and approved by resolution of the Commons House of Parliament. 7. Orders, regulations, etc.
— (1) Any order made under this Act or under any provision of the Civil Defence Acts which is again brought into operation under section one of this Act
— (a)
may contain such consequential and incidental provisions as appear to the Ministry to be necessary or expedient;
Para. (b) rep. by SLR 1980
(2) Any regulations — (a)
may contain provisions having purposes similar to any provisions of the Air-Raid Precautions Act (Northern Ireland), 1938
1938 c.26
1939 c.15
, or the Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland), 1939
;
(b)
may make different provision for different cases or classes of cases;
(c)
may in particular, but without prejudice to the generality of the last preceding paragraph, make different provision in relation to different public bodies or classes of public bodies;
(d)
may contain such consequential, incidental and supplemental provisions as appear to the Ministry to be necessary or expedient; and
(e)
may provide penalties in respect of contraventions of any such regulations.
(3) No regulations shall be made under any provision (other than section six) of this Act unless a draft thereof has been laid before Parliament and approved by resolution of each House of Parliament:
Proviso rep. by SI 1973/2163
(4) Regulations made under any provision of the Civil Defence Acts which is again brought into operation under section one of this Act shall, as soon as may be after they are made, be laid before each House of Parliament. If either such House within the statutory period next after any such regulations have been so laid resolves that the regulations shall be annulled, those regulations shall, after the date of the resolution, be void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything done thereunder or to the making of new regulations.
8. Offences.
— (1) Any person who, for civil defence purposes, for reward
— (a)
executes any works; or
(b)
supplies any appliance, equipment, commodity or other thing;
which are or is to his knowledge defective, inadequate or otherwise such as to be unsuitable for those purposes shall be guilty of a felony and shall be liable to [
imprisonment] for a term not exceeding ten years or to a fine not exceeding five thousand pounds or to both such [
imprisonment] and such fine.
(2) Where at the trial of a person charged with an offence under the preceding sub-section it is proved — (a)
that he did not know of the defect, inadequacy or unsuitability in respect of which he stands charged; and
(b)
that his ignorance thereof was due to his own neglect or default;
it shall be lawful for the jury to find him guilty of a misdemeanour; and a person so found guilty shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine not exceeding one thousand pounds or to both such fine and such imprisonment. 9. Interpretation.
— (1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires,
— Civil Defence Acts means the Air-Raid Precautions Act (Northern Ireland), 1938
1938 c.26
1939 c.15
, and the Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland), 1939
, as amended by this Act;
civil defence does not include the provision or maintenance of a shelter which is used or intended to be used wholly or mainly by naval, military or air forces but, save as aforesaid, includes any measures not amounting to actual combat for affording defence against any form of hostile attack by a foreign power or for depriving any form of hostile attack by a foreign power of the whole or part of its effect, whether the measures are taken before, at or after the time of the attack;
civil defence forces and civil defence services mean respectively forces and services formed wholly or mainly to meet the needs of civil defence;
civil defence shelter means any shelter other than a shelter which is used or intended to be used wholly or mainly by naval, military or air forces;
enactment includes any provision in any Act (whether public general, local or private) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom or the Parliament of Northern Ireland, and a provision in any Order in Council, order, regulation, rule, byelaw, scheme or other instrument made under any such Act;
land , in any provision of this Act relating to the acquisition of land, includes any interests in land or water and any easement or right in, to or over land or water;
Definition rep. by SRO (NI) 1973/341
modification , in relation to any enactment, includes amendment or extension of, or addition to or other adaptation of, and repeal of, that enactment;
police forces means the Royal Ulster Constabulary
… ;
public body means a [
district council] or public utility undertaker, [
the Fire Authority for Northern Ireland] or any body so designated by an order of the Ministry;
public utility undertaker means any body or person authorised by or under any enactment, whether public general, local or private, to construct, work, maintain or carry on
—
(a) any undertaking for the supply of electricity, gas or water;
(b) any railway, light railway, tramway, road transport, water transport, canal or inland navigation, or dock or harbour; regulations means regulations made by the Ministry under this Act;
a shelter means any premises, structure or excavation used or intended to be used to provide shelter from any form of hostile attack by a foreign power;
definition in 1954 c. 33 (NI) s. 41(2) substituted by 1979 NI 12
works includes the provision, construction, maintenance or alteration of premises, structures or excavations required for civil defence.
Subs. (2) rep. by 1954 c. 33 (NI)
10. Short title and citation.
— (1) This Act may be cited as the Civil Defence Act (Northern Ireland), 1950, and this Act and the Civil Defence Acts may be cited together as the Civil Defence Acts (Northern Ireland), 1938 to 1950.
Subs. (2) rep. by SLR (NI) 1954 Schedule rep. by SLR (NI) 1954