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Genetic Testing (Consent and Confidentiality)
Mr. Nick Harvey accordingly presented a Bill to require that genetic testing and genetic test results and other information derived from such tests may be used only for medical and clinical purposes, after informed consent of the patient has been given; to prohibit the giving of such information to other parties; and to prohibit insurance companies, banks, mortgage providers and employers from requiring genetic tests to be taken or insisting on disclosure of the results or of information derived from such tests: And the same was read the First time; and ordered to be read a Second time on Friday 21 July, and to be printed [Bill 132].
Orders of the Day
Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate Bill [Lords]
Order for Second Reading read.
4.30 pm
The Solicitor-General (Mr. Ross Cranston): I beg to move, That the Bill be now read a Second time.
This is a concise but important measure. Its purpose can be summarised shortly: it places the Crown Prosecution Service inspectorate on a statutory basis. I am pleased to say that, so far, it has received a warm welcome from both sides of the House.
The CPS inspectorate is a non-statutory body, operating within the CPS itself. The current chief inspector and his staff are all members of, or on loan to, the Crown Prosecution Service. They therefore report to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Although the inspectorate has produced valuable work since its inception in 1996 under the previous Government, there is no doubt that the current arrangements are not ideal. It is important that an inspectorate should be not only independent in practice but demonstrably independent. The current arrangements do not necessarily achieve that purpose, which is why we are introducing this Bill.
The Government attach considerable importance to having an effective and efficient CPS. We believe that an important part of building a credible organisation is ensuring that it is subject to rigorous inspection. The Glidewell report into the future of the CPS, published in 1998, reached the firm conclusion that it is essential to retain and expand the role of the CPS inspectorate. It said that public confidence in any organisation is greatly enhanced if it has an efficient and effective inspectorate system, advising those at the top of the organisation as to its corporate health and publishing the results of its work.
Glidewell recommended introducing an independent element to the inspectorate in the form of a part-time independent chairman. I am pleased to say that, in this respect, the Bill goes further than the Glidewell recommendation. The independent chief inspector will occupy a full-time post.
The Bill will guarantee that the inspectorate enjoys the same independence and status as other criminal justice inspectorates, such as the inspectorate of prisons and the inspectorate of probation. Importantly, the inspectorate will be separated from the CPS. It will be financed separately and located in separate accommodation. The chief inspector will be appointed by the Attorney-General, who will have the authority to appoint other inspectors. That is the effect of clause 1.
I intend no disrespect to existing members of the inspectorate, whose work was praised in the Glidewell report, when I say that that change of status will also provide an opportunity to bring into the inspectorate additional staff with a wider range of backgrounds. In other words, there will be staff members whose background and experience are quite distinct from the CPS. A number of outside people have already been appointed as business management inspectors and legal inspectors. They will bring fresh ideas and a different perspective to supplement the existing expertise in the
inspectorate.The chief inspector will acquire management responsibility for the inspectorate, again separate from the CPS.The chief inspector's overriding responsibility will be to inspect the operation of the CPS. That duty is cast in wide terms in clause 2. The clause is drafted to ensure that the chief inspector has independence. He can inspect and report on any matter connected with the operation of the CPS that concerns him. However, the Attorney- General may refer matters to the chief inspector to report on. The chief inspector is thus responsible to the Attorney- General and, ultimately, to Parliament. The chief inspector will have to submit an annual report to the Attorney-General, who is then under a duty to lay that report before Parliament.
A further change to the inspectorate since the Glidewell report is that it now no longer concentrates exclusively on matters of case work. In accordance with the report's recommendations, its remit has been broadened to include all aspects of the CPS operation that support its case work. Inspectorate reports will continue to concentrate on case work, but will also provide a complete overview of CPS performance in the area inspected, including management and operational issues.
The CPS inspectorate will also undertake more inspection work of a thematic nature. It recently published a report on disclosure of unused material, which attracted wide attention. In February, it published a report on advocacy and case presentation. Although that did not attract the same attention, it was important.
Preparation of such thematic reports will continue once the inspectorate is placed on a statutory footing. The chief inspector also proposes that more work should be undertaken with other criminal justice inspectorates. Some such work has been undertaken, such as the joint report by the CPS inspectorate, the magistrates courts service inspectorate and the inspectorate of constabularies, "How Long Youth Cases Take". More recently, the first joint inspection by all six inspectorates with an interest in the criminal justice system has been completed. Their report--"Casework Information Needs Within The Criminal Justice System"--was published at the end of April.
Such joint scrutiny of aspects of the working of the criminal justice system supports the Government's establishment of overarching aims and objectives for the criminal justice system. We are determined that individual agencies should provide a more coherent and effective service without compromising their individual, and sometimes independent, roles.
Clause 2 allows the chief inspector to designate an inspector to discharge his functions when he is absent or unable to act. Clause 3 simply sets out the short title, extent and commencement arrangements.
This is a short, but important, measure. It has obviously gripped the attention of the whole House. I am convinced that it will make a significant contribution to the effective operation of the criminal justice system.
4.37 pm
Mr. Edward Garnier (Harborough): As the Solicitor- General correctly said, he and I have managed to attract our usual adoring fan clubs to the House this afternoon. I am grateful to those who have come to see us.
The Bill has been described as modest, short and uncontroversial. In some quarters, those epithets might lead people to think less of it, but, despite, or even because of, its brevity, narrow compass and inoffensiveness, it should command the support of the House.
It is perhaps surprising that the Bill has taken so long to get here from the other place. Second Reading in the Lords took place on 30 November last year, when the Attorney-General stated with pride that it was only the second piece of legislation promoted by a Law Officer in 50 years. The first had been a Bill to increase the salary of the then Solicitor-General, the noble and learned Lord Falconer of Thoroton, and any other Law Officer who was a member of the other place rather than this House. Lord Williams of Mostyn said that that was
- plainly a piece of legislation of the utmost importance--[Official Report, House of Lords, 30 November 1999; Vol. 99, c. 761.]
The Bill itself is none the worse for that. I congratulate the Solicitor-General on bringing to the statute book an idea whose genesis is to be found in the period of office of my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for North-East Bedfordshire (Sir N. Lyell). When he was Attorney-General, the Conservative Government decided that an inspectorate of the Crown Prosecution Service was needed, and there has been a non-statutory inspectorate within the CPS since 1996. Had we been successful at the general election, the Bill, or something very similar, would have been introduced by my right hon. and learned Friend.
It is fair to say that the idea behind the Bill was given further impetus by the Glidewell report on the Crown Prosecution Service, which was published in 1998. As the Solicitor-General told us, once the Bill is enacted the inspectorate will have a status equal to the other statutory inspectorates with which we are already familiar--such as those for prisons, the probation service, magistrates courts and the constabulary. They have proved to be powerful and useful additions to the armoury for public accountability of the public services; I welcome the Bill on that ground alone.
In clause 2, the chief inspector's functions are spelt out in a general fashion. Having been to see the current chief inspector, Mr. Stephen Wooler, in his offices in Ludgate Hill in the City earlier this year, I have no doubt that both he and his staff will carry out their duties well and with great thoroughness and independence. They have already built up an ethos that suggests that they take seriously their responsibilities to the public and to the CPS. They will look into specific issues referred to them by the Attorney-General and they will also, I understand, prepare thematic reports that will flow from longer and more detailed inspections of particular aspects of the work of the CPS--such as prosecution policy in respect of certain types of crime or the use of resources in a particular field of CPS work.
However, may I suggest that one of the first things the statutory inspectorate considers is the current state of morale among CPS staff--lawyers and non-lawyers alike? Is the Solicitor-General aware that, according to a survey
carried out by the Association of First Division Civil Servants, the levels of stress-related illnesses among the CPS work force are so high that the association described the CPS as being
- on the brink of crisis?
The Government propose to cut the CPS budget by almost 5 per cent. next year. I am as keen to see the proper use of taxpayers' money as any Member of the official Opposition, but there are ways and ways of ensuring that the public receive good value for money. The Labour Government's approach to the finances of the CPS appears to be unintelligent, and calculated to have an even more depressing effect on the performance and morale of its staff.
The present Director of Public Prosecutions is an extremely able and justifiably respected criminal lawyer of the first rank. He has not been afraid to appear in cases in the magistrates courts to see for himself the work of his most junior lawyers. From my visits to CPS offices, both as a constituency Member of Parliament and as the shadow Attorney-General, I am aware of the stresses and difficulties faced by the CPS; they need to be addressed speedily and effectively by the Government.
As a recorder of the Crown court, I see the results when ill-prepared cases come to court--the avoidable delays and frustrations for witnesses and other court users, and the general air of hopelessness that often seems to pervade junior and middle-ranking CPS lawyers, who are overworked and under-resourced.
It is incumbent on the Government to get a grip on aspects of our criminal justice system where they can do some real good--as with this Bill--rather than wasting time, money, energy and the good will of the legal profession, and of many others who care for the rights of the citizen, on destroying the jury system by means of the Criminal Justice (Mode of Trial) (No. 2) Bill. I urge the Government to use the Bill for the benefit of the CPS certainly, but, above all, for the benefit of the public by whose interests they ought to be guided.
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