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Baroness Henig: My Lords, I should start by declaring an interest as chair of both my own local police authority in Lancashire and of the national Association of Police Authorities, which represents all police authorities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This is an important and substantial Bill which contains many far-reaching changes. I want to focus mainly on the proposals for the new Serious Organised Crime Agency but then speak briefly on certain other aspects of the Bill.
We have heard already that there is strong support within the policing community for the proposed new Serious Organised Crime Agency. It is not that long ago1997since the National Crime Squad and the National Criminal Intelligence Service were set up. Both will now make way for the new agency. I could not let this opportunity pass without paying tribute to the excellent work done by NCS and NCIS, and to the valuable contribution made by my police authority colleagues on the service authorities overseeing those squads, including in a former life, as we have already heard, the noble Baroness, Lady Harris of Richmond, who I am delighted to see in her place on the Liberal Democrat Front Bench.
However, despite the good work done by NCS and NCIS, a step change is now needed to tackle the substantial challenges posed by international organised crime. SOCA is rightly not a re-badging or merging of existing national bodies; it is about creating a new body with the capacity and capability to tackle the highly sophisticated and professional criminals who trade globally in human misery such as drugs and people trafficking.
I know that many in the service, including the Police Federation, have argued strongly and passionately that police officers transferring to SOCA should retain their status as constables. The office of constable is rightly highly valued but I am not convinced that that is the way forward. SOCA needs to be able to bring together a wide range of expertise and specialist skills into a cohesive whole. It needs to be a modern 21st century body with a new culture able to work across traditional roles and boundaries.
But in removing horizontal barriers to defeating serious crime we must take care not to create vertical ones instead. There is no doubt that the formation of NCS and NCIS led to what is known as the "level 2" gap which has opened up in tackling crime that crosses command unit and force boundaries. It is important that the creation of SOCA does not exacerbate that. Much as it would be convenient for us if they did so, criminals do not organise their activities into neat compartments.
Last week, I welcomed on behalf of all police authorities the Government's commitment to revitalising neighbourhood policing. It is in our neighbourhoods that the impact and effects of serious organised crime are most acutely felt. If SOCA is to
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succeed in reducing that harm, it will need to work hand in glove with local police forces, as the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, rightly emphasised.
There needs to be a seamless approach to tackling criminality at local, force and national level. As we have seen from the hard lessons learned in the United States, community intelligence is often key and will be crucial to SOCA's effectiveness. We need to be sure that SOCA goes about its business in a way which supports local efforts to build cohesion and confidence within our diverse communities in policing and law enforcement.
Unfortunately, police authorities are not persuaded at present that the proposed governance arrangements for SOCA will secure the connectivity needed. There is no provision for local policing to have a direct voice on the SOCA board. Instead, we understand that the non-executive directors will be appointed on a personal basis. There would be much greater confidence about this among police authorities and forces if there was credible and current representation from local policing interests on the SOCA board.
Disappointingly, the Bill does not even make explicit provision for SOCA to consult police authorities and forces in setting its annual priorities or plans, as a previous speaker has already pointed out. The chairman designate is on record as saying that SOCA needs to take account of the public's concerns in developing its priorities. But rather than, as has been suggested, using media column inches as a proxy for this, why not seek the views of police authorities who represent those communities and know the impact of serious crime locally? We are assured by the Government that such consultation will take place, but in that case, why not say so on the face of the Bill?
These are constructive criticisms intended to improve the Bill. The Association of Police Authorities will, whatever the outcome, work closely with Ministers and the chairman and director general designate to ensure a smooth transition and to get SOCA off to the best possible start.
I now want briefly to mention a couple of issues which have caused some controversy in policing circles, the first being the provision in Part 3 of the Bill to enable the functions of custody sergeants to be carried out by police staff. Civilianisation is not new to the police service, but it was given impetus by the Police Reform Act 2002. The most visible embodiment of this, in every way, has been the introduction of police community support officers. There is no doubt that community support officers are enormously popular with our communities, providing as they do a visible and accessible presence on the streets.
A key plank of the police reform agenda, in which government, police authorities and forces are jointly engaged, is workforce modernisation. This is about making the most effective use of the skills and expertise of the whole workforce in a more holistic and unified way.
I absolutely agree that the custody role is an extremely important one, encompassing as it does the need to protect the welfare and the civil liberties of
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detainees, to challenge the decisions of investigating officers and to secure the integrity of evidence. I know that the proposals have provoked strong opposition from the Police Federation and many serving officersand the concerns of practitioners should not be dismissed lightlybut I am still not convinced that there is any reason why a suitably trained and skilled member of staff could not take on this role and exercise the same independence and integrity as a police officer.
Certainly in relation to the need to work more effectively in bringing offenders to justice, my experience as a magistrate indicates that what matters is that those who take on this role are able to ensure that the right charge is laid and that there is proper liaison with the CPS.
The key point here is that the clause is an enabling one. It would allow this approach to be piloted, as my noble friend the Minister has already pointed out, and would give police authorities and chief officers who wish to do so the flexibility to move in this direction. I believe that gradually that is what will happen.
Secondly, the Bill makes provision to extend the powers available to PCSOs. As I said earlier, they are a great success and the recent additional resources for more of them have been welcomed by all my police authority colleagues. However, there are mixed views about giving PCSOs more powers, prompted by concerns that we risk losing their distinctive valuetheir capacity to be out and about on the streets and accessible to our communities. As has been said already, this aspect of the Bill will need careful examination.
I want quickly to welcome Clause 152 and the proposed new duty on police authorities to give local people information about policing in their area. Indeed, this simply codifies good practice already happening around the country. While there may be a need to discuss the detail of the provisions to ensure that they support authorities' efforts to reach as widely as possible into our communities, the principle has strong support.
I shall not touch on any other aspects of the Bill. There is much to be commended in the Bill, but there is also much that will benefit from your Lordships' usual rigorous and careful scrutiny in its subsequent stages.
Lord Sutherland of Houndwood: My Lords, I agree with much of the core business of the Bill. However, I should add that I agree with the main range of points made in the speeches of the noble and learned Lord, Lord Mackay, the noble Lords, Lord Lester and Lord Baker, and the noble Baroness, Lady D'Souza.
I begin by asking for the indulgenceand possibly the forgivenessof the right reverend Prelates who are normally in their places on the Benches designated for them. It is not sufficient to plead that some of my best friends are bishopstrue though that be, perhaps. There is a story told of a bishop who rose to preach in a very distinguished city church and, almost before he could utter the opening words of incantation, a voice cried outnot from the wilderness, this was a city
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church, but from the right-hand aisle"All bishops are charlatans and conmen". Before he could think of a witty and, of course, humble rebuff, a voice called out from the left aisle: "That is an insult and lie." His relief and gratitude spilled over. To the voice from the left he called, "I didn't know you were a bishop!" To which the reply came: "I'm not. I'm a charlatan and a conman".
The point of the story is that offence perceived is not always the same as offence given or intended. That lies at the centre of some of the problems I have with aspects of the Bill. Criticism is easily perceived as enmity, and remarks made by way of criticism are as easily perceived as attacks against the holder of those beliefs as against the beliefs in question.
It is argued that the Bill distinguishes between the person and the beliefs. I look, not as a bishop, a politician or a lawyer, but as a simple philosopher of religion, at the Explanatory Notes to the Bill, and I am encouraged when I read that the offences are designated to include hatred against a group where hatred is not directed against the religious belief. That almost reassures me.
I turn to Schedule 10 to the Bill, however, and read:
"In this Part 'religious hatred' means hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to religious belief".
The Bill specifies that the persons in question are defined by reference to religious beliefs. I submit that these are not separated in ways that are clear and manageable under law. For example, if you criticise my belief that one day Scotland will win the Grand Slam, I can live with that, because such a belief does not define me in any essential way. However, if you criticise my belief in democratic processes, in the importance of education and in the essential distinction between truth and falsehood, then it is I who begin to feel criticised and indeed threatened, not my system of beliefs alone. Mutatis mutandis, the same applies to religious believers, be they Christians, Muslims, Sikhs or Jews.
The Bill depends upon a clear distinction between the beliefs and the believer, and yet, at the heart of the Bill, the believer is defined with reference to the religious beliefs they hold. It is not conceivable that one can mount a reasonable analysis and perhaps criticism of the beliefs of specific religions and not run the temptation that many will take these to be criticisms of the believers in question. That is becauserightly, the Bill impliesthe two are intimately bound up. Religious belief is such that the character of the belief defines the individual in a way that many other peripheral beliefs do not and thus can be cast aside, chosen or rejected.
The same is true of religious beliefs. Once adopted, the character of the individual is defined in very deep ways, which this Bill runs the risk of pulling to the surface in a possibly disruptive fashion.
The conclusion of my argument runs thus: insult and offence can be taken when not intended, and, as a consequence, will often be assumed to have been intended. Furthermorethis is a point in the Bill that I have not gone into, but it may well come up in Committeesomeone's religious hatred may be
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stirred up by reading or hearing of opinions that are not sourced in religious hatred. Who, in terms of the Bill, can predict when that is likelynot least in the days of the Internet and the worldwide web?
Criticisms of the beliefs of someone whose dominant group is defined by those beliefs is ipso facto implied criticism of that group, and will be read as such by both believers and, perhaps worse, by those whose motives and intentions are seriously unworthy. I submit to your Lordships that the composite of issues surrounding this proposed legislation will inhibit the reasonable, constructive and free expression of criticisms of religious belief, and, in so doing, will impoverish our culture and our community.
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