Instruments of interest
Draft Northern Ireland Act 1998 (Section 75 — Designation of Public Authority) Order 2020
18.As part of its withdrawal from the EU, the UK has made agreements with both the EU and the European Economic Area/European Free Trade Association states to guarantee the rights of their citizens living in the UK and Gibraltar after Brexit. The role of the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA) is to assist in protecting those rights by monitoring the UK’s implementation and application of those agreements. The IMA will be a UK-wide non-departmental public body and will be fully operational from the end of the transition period (31 December 2020). The IMA’s role will include carrying out functions relating to Northern Ireland. This instrument therefore ensures that the IMA is covered by the statutory equality duties, applicable to any public authority carrying out functions in Northern Ireland, set out in Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.
Draft Port Examination Codes of Practice and National Security Determinations Guidance Regulations 2020
19.The instrument brings into force three codes of practice regarding national security functions carried out at UK ports and the Northern Ireland border. They reflect changes made by the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019:
- Examining Officers and Review Officers under Schedule 3 to the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 is a new code which relates to the training and conduct of officers who stop, question, search and detain persons to determine whether they are or have been engaged in hostile activity. These powers were introduced in response to the Salisbury attack in March 2018 (Annex C of the Code includes further information on what types of hostile activity are of concern).
- Examining Officers and Review Officers under Schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000 revises the existing Code on the training and conduct of officers who stop, question, search and detain persons to determine whether they are or have been engaged in terrorism.
- Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 Guidance on the making or renewing of national security determinations allowing the retention of biometric data is also a revision which notes that, although the retention period has recently been extended to five years, shorter retention periods should be considered. It also allows for a determination to be made by any Chief Officer of a police force not just the Chief Officer of the particular force.
Draft Surrender of Offensive Weapons (Compensation) Regulations 2020
20.These Regulations set out arrangements for the payment of compensation to the lawful owners of certain offensive weapons which will be prohibited when sections 43, 44, 46, 47, 54 and 55 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 (“the 2019 Act”) come into force. In particular, those sections add zombie knives, cyclone knives, rapid firing rifles and bump stocks10 to the list of banned weapons. The 2019 Act also amends section 141 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 to make it an offence to possess offensive weapons in private.11 The Home Office’s implementation plans have been delayed by the COVID-19 outbreak, but the intention is to provide Parliament with drafts of the scheme’s supporting documents (e.g. guidance and claim form) in due course. When the compensation scheme goes live later this year there will be a publicity campaign, particularly in the trade press, with information on how to surrender items and make a claim on the firearms webpage.12 Once the surrender period has been completed, the Minister for Policing and Crime will make a Commencement Order bringing the prohibitions on possession into force. The House may wish to ask the Minister for more detail about the intended timetable.
10 A “bump stock” replaces a rifle’s standard stock, enabling it to fire bullets more rapidly and to perform like an automatic weapon.
11 The weapons to which that section applies are set out in the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (Offensive Weapons) Order 1988 (SI 1988/2019) as amended.
12 Home Office, ‘Firearms’ (Last updated 2 October 2019): https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/firearms [accessed 17 June 2020].