Ministerial Report

Under SO169A (Reports concerning human rights)

 

London Local Authorities Bill [Lords]

 

Barbara Follett, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government, has made the following report:

‘1. Standing Order No. 98A of the House of Lords and Standing Order No.169A of the House of Commons requires me to report on this Bill in respect of whether in my view the promoters have undertaken a full assessment of the compatibility of their proposals with the European Convention on Human Rights.

2. In my opinion, save for clause 22 which is discussed below, I believe that the promoters have undertaken a full assessment of the compatibility of their proposals with the European Convention on Human Rights, and I see no need to dispute their conclusions.

 

Clause 22 (Housing Act 2004: Authorisation for enforcement purposes, etc.)

 

3. Baroness Andrews - in her statement about whether the promoter had undertaken a full assessment of the compatibility of the Bill’s proposals with the European Convention of Human Rights following its first reading in the House of Lords in January 2008 - stated that in her opinion that the promoters had failed to undertake an adequate assessment in respect of clause 22. This was based on legal advice of her Department - Communities and Local Government - which has lead policy interest in this clause.

4. Clause 22 amends Section 243 of the Housing Act 2004 in its application to London. This section deals with authorisations for enforcement purposes under the 2004 Act, and requires any authorisation for individual officers to exercise certain powers on a case-by-case basis (including powers of entry) must be given by an officer of the local housing authority who is at least a deputy chief officer of the authority. The original clause would have enabled such authorisation also to be given to any person who reports directly to a deputy chief officer and who satisfied the conditions and would have allowed a number of such authorisations to exist at any one time.

 

5. Section 243 of the Housing Act 2004 was carefully drafted to take account of the European Convention on Human Rights in terms of intrusion into someone’s property or home. A key consideration was the independence of the person authorising the entry to the property, and accordingly Section 243 specifically requires at least a deputy chief officer - a post defined under Section 2 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 - to provide authorisation. Baroness Andrews’s statement concluded that “Allowing a person that reports directly to the deputy chief officer to provide authorisation potentially reduces this independence, and it may not be compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.”

 

6. I welcome the amendments made by the promoters to clause 22 during the passage of the Bill through the House of Lords to address the Government’s concerns about the original clause’s compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. The latest clause now proposes - through new sub-clause 3A(d) - to restrict any authorisations below deputy chief officer to only one officer at any one time, which avoids the risk of a proliferation of officers with the power to give authorisations.

 

7. However, the clause might still permit a delegation of authorisation powers to be made to a fairly junior official, providing they report directly to a deputy chief officer. This may compromise the independence of authorisations made under section 243, with implications for their compatibility with the European Convention on Human Rights. This is an issue which the Bill’s Committee may want to explore.’

 

 

Consideration of Bills Ordered to Lie upon the Table

for Thursday 10 December 2009

Leeds City Council Bill

Reading Borough Council Bill

 

 

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