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Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do not insist on their Amendment No. 166 to which the Commons have disagreed for their reason numbered 166A.
Moved, that the House do not insist on their Amendment No. 166 to which the Commons have disagreed for their reason numbered 166A.—(Lord Falconer of Thoroton.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
Bill returned to the Commons with amendments.
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, I beg to move that the Commons amendments be now considered.
Moved, That the Commons amendments be now considered.—(Lord Falconer of Thoroton.)
On Question, Motion agreed to.
166ABecause it would involve a charge on public finds, and the Commons do not offer any further Reason, trusting that this Reason may be deemed sufficient.
6.40 p.m.
1Clause 4, page 4, line 45, at end insert—
"(5) The Secretary of State shall not give a direction under this section in relation to any police force unless—
In turn, the other place decided, as is their right, to restore the clause. But the clause that we are now considering is very different from the one first introduced into your Lordships' House. Indeed, it is so different that the clause now has a different title. Rather than "Directions to chief officers", it is now to be entitled "Directions as to action plans".
It is fair to say that in the past three months since the Bill left this House, both sides have come a long way. During the earlier debates in this House, the opposition were not even prepared to accept that there were any circumstances in which it would be appropriate for the Home Secretary of the day to intervene to ensure that effective action was taken to address poor performance. There is now a general acceptance that there must be some last-resort mechanism for the Home Secretary to become involved where local remedies have failed to address serious weaknesses.
For our part, we now accept that the trigger for intervention must be an adverse report by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary. Evidence of poor performance from the Police Standards Unit or Audit Commission may cause the Home Secretary to
The Government also accept that the intervention powers, once triggered, should be applied through the local police authority. Hence there is no longer a power to direct a chief officer. We have instead built upon the existing power to direct police authorities. That was first introduced in the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 by the previous Conservative administration.
Under the revised clause, the Home Secretary will direct the police authority to submit an action plan. In turn, the police authority will direct the chief officer to prepare a draft of such a plan. It will then be for the police authority to adopt the plan, with or without modifications, and submit it to the Home Secretary.
I should stress that the content of the action plan will be wholly a matter for the police authority, in consultation with the chief officer. However, we believe that it is entirely reasonable that the Home Secretary should see the plan and, if necessary, comment on it, to satisfy himself and, more importantly, those communities suffering from an inadequate policing service that adequate measures are to be taken. Again, it would be entirely a matter for the police authority to decide whether to change the plan in the light of the Home Secretary's comments.
The House will no doubt recognise many of the features in the revised clause. They are not dissimilar to those contained in the amendment moved by my noble friend Lord Harris of Haringey at both Committee and Report stages, which received general support from both Opposition Front Benches.
Following further discussions with the Shadow Home Secretary, we have made some further adjustments to subsection (2) of new Section 41A, which are contained in government amendments to Amendment No. 2. Those adjustments seek to remove any lingering doubt that the Home Secretary would still be able to dictate the content of an action plan. We are happy to make it abundantly clear that that is not the case.
I believe that, as a result of these and the earlier changes, there is now broad agreement to these amendments, and I commend them to the House.
Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 1.—(Lord Falconer of Thoroton.)
Baroness Anelay of St Johns: My Lords, in rising to speak to this amendment, which, as the Minister has pointed out, goes to the heart of some of our original objections to parts of this Bill, I shall, with the leave of the House, take the rather unusual step of speaking generally and as briefly as possible on all remaining amendments before the House today. I have given notice of that intention to the Minister, to the Liberal Democrat Front Bench and to the Chief Whips of both parties. It is to show good will to the Bill at this stage and to assist its speedy passage at a time when we have
I welcome the Bill as it is now being re-drafted by the Government. It goes far enough towards the position we have been seeking to be acceptable to us. If the Liberal Democrats press their amendments to a Division today, I am afraid that we shall not be able to support them.
I pay tribute to the hard work done over the past few months by my noble friends, especially my noble friend Lord Dixon-Smith, and by my right honourable friend Mr Letwin and my honourable friend Mr Paice, in making these significant government concessions possible. I do not in any regard underestimate the extent of the hard talking that has taken place behind the scenes, as well as on the Floors of both Houses, nor the extent of the Government's recognition of the clear determination of this House to stick by its principled views expressed during our debates on the Bill.
On other matters before us today, I should also like to take the opportunity now to welcome the new provisions on sex offender orders, which will ensure better protection for vulnerable people against convicted sex offenders.
Of course, there is always a "but". In this instance, the "but" is that my noble friend Lord Attlee is still extremely unhappy with Amendment No. 142, which will be debated later. I am sure that the Minister will recognise, as I do, the depth and breadth of my noble friend's knowledge and expertise in these matters. Amendment No. 142 deals with the movement of abnormal loads. My noble friend believes that it facilitates a private person undertaking what is now a police function on a commercial, not a competitive, basis. I have not been briefed on this matter by the industry, as there has been no consultation by the Home Office. I am sure that both my noble friend and I will return to this matter in the future when the Bill is enacted, but I am most grateful to him for indicating to me that he will not pursue the matter in our debates today.
When the Bill was debated in this House, noble Lords found three measures in particular objectionable: first, the Secretary of State's plans to intervene in constabularies where ministers believe they have failed in some respect; secondly, the provisions to invent community support officers; and, thirdly, the Henry VIII powers regarding the Secretary of State's powers to make orders and regulations.
I shall deal briefly with the three points in reverse order. I welcome the concession made by the Government on Report on 9th July on the so-called Henry VIII powers, when they tabled an amendment which had the effect of adding their names to the amendment tabled by my honourable friend Mr James Paice and Mr Norman Baker. I welcome the Government's conversion to our view not only that the powers were indeed Henry VIII powers—far too extensive—but that they should be deleted, as they had
With regard to the CSOs, it is no secret that, had we started with a clean sheet of paper, we would not have invented them. We would have preferred to adopt another route, using the Special Constabulary. However, I welcome the Government's commitment, given on Report at columns 980 to 981 of Commons Hansard of 10th July, that the schemes will be piloted and that during the first two years after the commencement of this Act, the maximum number of forces allowed to deploy CSOs with the power to use detention with reasonable force will be six. It is acceptable because we are assured by the Government that they settled on that number after consultation with the chief inspector of the constabulary.
I therefore come to the final and most intractable of the issues, which is the subject of the amendments in this group; that is, Clause 5 and the Government's initial plans to require chief officers in forces which Ministers consider to be failing in some way, to submit an action plan addressing the problem; and of course, as the noble and learned Lord the Minister has pointed out, Clause 5 was deleted by this House. It would have given central control of policing to the Home Secretary and undermined the tripartite system that gives a role to chief constables, Ministers and police authorities.
When the Bill was debated on Report in another place, the Government's position was still not acceptable to us. Their offer was that the requirement for an action plan should be imposed only after an adverse report from independent inspectors and that it should be channelled through the police authorities. However, the Government would still have been able to indicate the relevant areas on which the plan should focus. That was not acceptable to us.
The Government's amendments which they have brought forward today show that they have now dropped that objectionable requirement. The new clause gives the Home Secretary the power to initiate an action plan, but will give him no control over its contents and he will no longer be able to direct chief officers to draw one up.
The Home Secretary will not now have the power to run every police force from his desk in Whitehall as we believed was initially proposed. As the old saying goes, "A week is a long time in politics", and in this week the Government have done their final and most welcome U-turn. They have listened properly to the concerns expressed first in this House and subsequently in another place. I therefore welcome the amendments.
(a) the police authority maintaining that force and the chief officer of that force have each such information about the Secretary of State's grounds for proposing to give that direction as he considers appropriate for enabling them to make representations or proposals under the following paragraphs of this subsection;
(b) that police authority and chief officer have each been given an opportunity of making representations about those grounds;
(c) that police authority has had an opportunity of making proposals for the taking of remedial measures that would make the giving of the direction unnecessary; and
(d) the Secretary of State has considered any such representations and any such proposals.
(6) The Secretary of State may by regulations make further provision as to the procedure to be followed in cases where a proposal is made for the giving of a direction under this section.
(7) Before making any regulations under this section, the Secretary of State shall consult with—
(a) persons whom he considers to represent the interests of police authorities;
(b) persons whom he considers to, represent the interests of chief officers of police, and
(c) such other persons as he thinks fit.
(8) Regulations under this section may make different provision for different cases and circumstances.
(9) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section shall not be made unless a draft of the regulations has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House."
Lord Falconer of Thoroton: My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 1. It is perhaps fitting that we begin our consideration of the amendments made in the other place with the issue which has proved to be the most contentious throughout the passage of the Bill in both Houses. Indeed, it is so contentious that this House decided at Report stage in April to remove the offending clause—that is, Clause 5, headed "Directions to chief officers"—from the Bill.
6.45 p.m.
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