3.This draft Order would bring into force a revised version of Northern Ireland’s Code of Practice relating to stop and search powers under the Terrorism Act 2000.1 The changes principally relate to a new power introduced into the Act, as Section 43C, by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. This power enables the police to stop and search a terrorist offender to protect the public from a risk of terrorism, if that person has been released on licence with a condition that they are required to submit to a search. Such a licence condition may be included if the person has been convicted of an offence connected to terrorism and is assessed as posing a “high or very high risk of serious harm to the public”.
4.To carry out a search under Section 43C, an officer does not, as in other cases, require reasonable grounds of suspicion (for example, that the person is acting suspiciously or carrying a suspicious item). However, they must be satisfied that the search is necessary “for purposes connected with protecting members of the public from a risk of terrorism”. The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) described this to us as being a “lower bar needed to conduct the search”, but the Code does not provide clarity on how the police will make such decisions in practice.
5.The Code would align Northern Ireland (NI) with the rest of the UK, for which a revised Code came into force in October 2022.2 The NIO told us that the reasons for the later implementation of the NI Code included that there were “many other pieces of legislation and policy that have required urgent attention”, including related to the restoration of the NI Assembly, as well as the general election. The NIO clarified that the existing GB Code covers any officer, whether from GB or NI, in relation to stop and searches in GB, while the new NI code similarly applies to any UK officer operating in NI.
6.The purpose of these draft Regulations is to update the list of accepted forms of photographic identification (photo ID) that voters can use when voting in person in a polling station.3 The current rules for photo ID were introduced by the Elections Act 2022. Specifically, this instrument would:
7.The new rules apply in England, Wales and Scotland. The Voter ID system in Northern Ireland (NI) is similar but has separate rules and regulations. The Government told us that it intends to bring forward legislation to add the Veteran Card to the list of ID documents that may be used in NI polling stations in advance of the next scheduled elections in NI which will be held in 2027.
8.We asked whether there had been an assessment of the impact of the photo ID requirement on the 2024 general election, whether people had been turned away from polling stations because they did not have a valid voter ID, and whether the Government had plans to address any potential inconsistencies between the types of photo ID that are accepted. MHCLG replied that:
“[The Government] has been evaluating the impact of the policy–as required by legislation - and will be publishing our report in due course.
The Electoral Commission has also conducted research on this.4 [ … ] We are pleased to see that in the Electoral Commissions report that there were high levels of satisfaction with the process of voting and only 0.08% of electors were unable to vote due to a lack of identification.
As our manifesto made clear, the Government will address the inconsistencies in voter identification that prevent legitimate electors from voting. We are currently considering what further changes should be made in order to achieve this, bringing forward proposals in due course.”
9.We note that the 0.08% of electors who were unable to vote in the general election is the proportion of people who tried to vote, were turned away at the polling station for not having an appropriate photo ID and did not return subsequently. While this proportion appears small, it is nevertheless equivalent to 16,000 people who were unable to cast their vote across Great Britain.5 Moreover, it does not include people deterred from going to a polling station in the first place because they did not believe they had appropriate ID. The House may wish to press the Minister on the timetable and extent of the planned further changes, and on how the Government intends to address the deterrent effect and any inconsistencies in the types of voter ID that are accepted, especially in relation to young people.
10.These Rules make various changes to the operation of the Parole Board, which assesses whether prisoners can safely be released into the community. One of the amendments allows the Chair of the Parole Board to delegate specified “appropriate tasks” to its staff. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) states this will make the Parole Board more efficient, allowing it to hold approximately 200 additional parole hearings per year. Safeguards include that actual decisions on whether a prisoner should be released will still be taken by a Parole Board Member, and a right of review against any decision taken by the secretariat.
11.We note that the MoJ only consulted the Probation Service and the Parole Board itself on this change. The MoJ told us that it does not routinely consult beyond those two organisations if the changes are “technical in nature”. However, we question this default position, observing that other similar bodies, such as courts and tribunals, regularly consult widely on changes to their rules. We also question the decision in this instance, given that case management decisions can have an important bearing on the prisoner’s liberty. Consultation would have enabled greater consideration of the degree of the discretion to delegate and the extent to which the Rules should circumscribe when delegation is possible. Moreover, it would have been straightforward to consult with interested parties, such as groups representing prisoners. Given the current issues in the criminal justice system and the prominence of the Parole Board’s role, we encourage the MoJ to ensure it consults widely on any further significant changes.
12.This instrument implements several fisheries management measures which have been set out in three fisheries management plans (FMPs). FMPs are required under the Fisheries Act 2020; they are long-term plans which are developed by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the devolved Governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales in collaboration with relevant stakeholders. FMPs set out the actions and policies required to restore or maintain stocks at sustainable levels. This instrument relates to FMPs in English waters for Channel demersal non-quota species, such as lemon sole, turbot and brill; flyseining fishing;6 and crawfish. According to Defra, these FMPs have been prioritised for development as the fish stocks covered are “commercially valuable, data poor and there are concerns that these fisheries are at risk of over exploitation”.
13.We note that, amongst other changes, the instrument will remove from secondary legislation catch limits for commercially caught sea bass which are negotiated annually between the UK and the EU, so that they can instead be implemented through fishing licence conditions. Defra explains that because licence conditions can be introduced more quickly, this will allow the catch limits to be updated promptly following international negotiations and in similar timescales to the EU and also makes it easier to align them with evolving evidence. This particular change will apply UK-wide; the devolved Governments have given their consent.
14.We asked the Department whether there was a precedent for removing parliamentary oversight in this way. Defra replied that: “Fisheries licence conditions are routinely used to manage where and how vessels can fish and what they are allowed to catch and land. Since the UK left the EU, the annually negotiated UK/EU quota limits and allocations are directly applied into UK domestic licences for most stocks.” The Department also provided an explanation of how Parliament is being kept informed of fishing negotiations between the UK and the EU. We have published Defra’s response to our questions in Appendix 2.
15.This Order updates the pay and conditions of teachers in maintained schools in England for the 2024–25 academic year, with retrospective effect from 1 September 2024. The instrument increases pay by 5.5% for all pay and allowance ranges and advisory points. The Department for Education (DfE) states that the award implements the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) “in full”. The DfE is providing £1.1 billion to achieve this.7 The Order also makes other changes to teachers’ conditions, including to remove the requirement for schools to use performance-related pay as the statutory basis for all pay decisions. Consultees generally welcomed these changes.
16.Over recent years, consultees have criticised delays in the annual pay review process. DfE told us that the process for the 2025–26 award has already been initiated, some three months earlier than for the previous year. This aims to address the issue that schools do not know the pay award until after many should have finalised their budgets.
17.The STRB’s report contains a discussion about targeting pay to support recruitment and retention in subjects where there are teacher shortages. Several consultees expressed concerns about such an approach. For example, in a joint response, five teaching unions said that pay differentiation actually added to recruitment and retention problems. Other issues raised included possible unfairness, divisiveness, the risk of “unequal pay for equal value” and practical difficulties, such as where teachers are deployed across a range of subjects. The DfE has committed to further consideration of the issue, including “detailed sector engagement”.
1 Northern Ireland Office, Code of practice (Northern Ireland) for the authorisation and exercise of stop and search powers relating to sections 43, 43a, 43c and 47a of, and schedule 6b to, The Terrorism Act 2000, Transparency data (15 October 2024): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-northern-ireland-for-the-authorisation-and-exercise-of-stop-and-search-powers-relating-to-sections-43-43a-43c-and-47a-of-and-sch [accessed 22 October 2024].
2 Home Office, Police stop and search powers: code of practice, Policy paper (9 January 2023): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-stop-and-search-powers-code-of-practice [accessed 22 October 2024].
3 For a list of photo IDs that are currently accepted, see: The Electoral Commission, ‘Accepted form of voter ID’: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id [accessed 22 October 2024].
4 The Electoral Commission, ‘Accepted form of voter ID’: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/voting-and-elections/voter-id/accepted-forms-photo-id [accessed 22 October 2024].
5 Ibid.
6 Flyseining involves fishing with an encircling and towed net which is operated from a boat through two long ropes (seine ropes) designed to herd the fish towards the opening of the net.