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Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 79:
- Page 25, line 29, leave out "only"
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, in moving the amendment, I speak also to Amendment No. 80.
At present, paragraphs 4 and 5 of Schedule 2 specify that the powers in question—taking fingerprints and non-intimate samples—are currently excisable only by a constable. The provisions of the PACE (Northern Ireland) Order to which these refer are silent as to who may exercise the powers. Having clarified the position under the order, paragraphs 14 and 17 of Schedule 1 to the Bill then enable those powers to be conferred on a designated person. The amendment is designed to remove ambiguity and introduce clarity. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendments Nos. 80 to 84:
- Page 25, line 33, leave out "only"
- Page 26, line 2, leave out "20(1)" and insert "20 or (Police powers for designated contracted-out staff)"
- Page 26, line 11, leave out "20(1)" and insert "20 or (Police powers for designated contracted-out staff)"
- Page 26, line 19, leave out "20(1)" and insert "20 or (Police powers for designated contracted-out staff)"
- Page 26, line 27, leave out "20(1)" and insert "20 or (Police powers for designated contracted-out staff)"
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Clause 22 [Assaults on, and obstruction of, designated police support staff]:
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendments Nos. 85 to 87:
- Page 13, line 25, leave out "(4)" and insert "(3)"
- Page 13, line 26, leave out "(5)" and insert "(3A)"
- Page 13, line 30, leave out "(6)" and insert "(3B)"
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, the amendments put right drafting errors. I beg to move.
On Question, amendments agreed to.
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 88:
- Page 13, line 31, leave out "20(1)" and insert "20 or (Police powers for designated contracted-out staff)"
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 23 [Impersonation etc. of designated police support staff]:
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 89:
- Page 14, line 8, leave out "20(1)" and insert "20 or (Police powers for designated contracted-out staff)"
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 90:
- After Clause 23, insert the following new clause—
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 90 is a drafting amendment to bring about a more effective interpretation. It provides for the definition of conduct which is taken from the Police Reform Act 2002. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 91:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 24 [Persons authorised to take intimate samples]:
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 92:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 92, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 93. The purpose of the amendment is to amend a drafting error to reflect that subordinate legislation relating to policing is made by statutory rule and not statutory instrument, an elementary error spotted by all of your Lordships. Amendment No. 93 clarifies the position. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Williams of Mostyn moved Amendment No. 93:
On Question amendment agreed to.
Lord Glentoran moved Amendment No. 94:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, I apologise for the late tabling of this amendment. Throughout the Grand Committee debates, I frequently referred to the appropriateness of the timing of various matters in the Bill. I know that the amendment's wording is not quite right. When we took it to the Clerks' Department, they told us that it was not acceptable in its present format and there was some rather hasty editing. I wanted the date of the commencement of the Bill to be debated.
Throughout our consideration of the Bill, I have made it clear that I disagree with the Government on timing. With the decommissioning process incomplete, we should like Section 3 of the Northern Ireland Arms Decommissioning Act 1997 satisfied and verified by the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning before any of the provisions come into force. With half the executive still not behind the Policing Board, I am disinclined to push through more technical legislation on policing. The bottom line is that we are, as I have said earlier, putting the people of Northern Ireland at risk by taking
I give notice that I intend to withdraw the amendment today, but that I shall return to the matter at Third Reading. I beg to move.
Lord Williams of Mostyn: My Lords, on the basis of what the noble Lord has helpfully said, it is probably
Lord Glentoran: My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord for that response. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
Clause 11 [Sending freezing orders]:
Baroness Anelay of St Johns moved Amendment No. 35:
The noble Baroness said: This amendment, which stands in my name and that of the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, is a probing amendment—the fact that we are in Grand Committee means that amendments can be nothing else. However, as was apparent in our previous sitting, if we had considered such amendments on the Floor of the House, they would still have remained only probing amendments. Most but not all of the amendments that we shall consider today will be probing amendments.
The amendment would establish a timetable for the forwarding of freezing orders. The amendment is intended to probe the level of staffing at the Central Authority that the Government are putting in place to ensure that the authority will be able to respond with due expedition to requests made under the Bill.
Can the noble and learned Lord the Minister give the Committee an idea of what the current level of staffing is at the Central Authority? In particular, how many qualified lawyers are there on the staff? Will he confirm that some, if not all, of the incoming requests involve the Home Office reaching a decision on law rather than on procedure? Will the Minister assist the Committee by giving us an idea of how many applications for judicial review over the past two years were dealt with by staff at the Central Authority? How much of their time was taken up in such work?
We are trying to secure a picture of what the Central Authority staffing currently is and whether the Government are satisfied that that level of staffing is sufficient to do the extra work that will be involved as a result of the Bill; if not, what are their plans? I beg to move.
"DESIGNATED PERSONS: INTERPRETATION
(1) This section applies for the interpretation of sections 20 to 23.
(2) "Conduct" includes omissions and statements.
(3) Expressions used in those sections and in the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000 (c. 32) have the same meanings in those sections as they have in that Act."
Before Clause 24, insert the following new clause—
"INTIMATE SEARCHES
(1) In Article 56 of the Police and Criminal Evidence (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/1341 (N.I. 12)) (intimate searches) after paragraph (5) insert—
"(5A) A person may use reasonable force, if necessary, in carrying out an intimate search as mentioned in paragraph (4) or (5)."
(2) Subsection (1) comes into force in accordance with provision made by the Secretary of State by order."
Page 14, line 39, leave out subsections (7) and (8).
Before Clause 26, insert the following new clause—
"ORDERS AND REGULATIONS
(1) Any power of the Secretary of State to make orders or regulations under this Act is exercisable by statutory rule for the purposes of the Statutory Rules (Northern Ireland) Order 1979 (1979 N.I. 12).
(2) Orders or regulations under this Act—
(a) may make different provision for different purposes;
(b) may include supplementary, incidental, saving or transitional provisions.
(3) A statutory rule made under this Act (other than one containing an order under section (Intimate searches)(2) or 24(6)) is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament in like manner as a statutory instrument and section 5 of the Statutory Instruments Act 1946 (c. 36) applies accordingly."
After Clause 28, insert the following new clause—
"COMMENCEMENT
(1) This Act shall come into force on such day as the Secretary of State may by order appoint.
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to this section or to sections 27 and 28.
House adjourned at twenty-seven minutes past four o'clock.
[The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord Skelmersdale) in the Chair.]
Page 7, line 14, after "State" insert "within 14 working days"
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