CODES OF PRACTICE: POLICE POWERS (Hansard, 13 June 1996)

§ The Minister of State, Northern Ireland Office (Sir John Wheeler)
I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Geoffrey Lofthouse)
With this, it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendment No. 2.

§ Sir John Wheeler
Clauses 52 and 54 re-enact in part section 61 of the current Act. They place a duty on the Secretary of State to make codes of practice in connection with the detention, treatment, questioning and identification of persons who are detained under the terrorism provisions. However, the Bill was drafted against the backdrop of a prevailing ceasefire situation, and it omits that part of the existing provision that confers on the Secretary of State a discretionary power to make codes of practice in connection with the police and Army's powers of arrest, search and seizure known as "part II powers".
No such codes were made during the lifetime of the current Act, and the ceasefires had seen a significant downturn in the use of the part II powers. In those circumstances, it was decided that the provision could lapse.
The Bill has been overshadowed by the provisional IRA's decision to end its ceasefire. We have seen a return to violence in the form of the bombings in London, and we cannot rule out the possibility that the security forces' part II powers will be needed for some time to come.
It seems sensible, therefore, to re-enact the power to create as necessary that type of additional safeguard, which codes of practice would provide.

§ Mr. Tony Worthington (Clydebank and Milngavie)
We welcome these amendments. Memory tells me that, during discussion of the Bill in Committee, we urged the Government not to drop this provision. It is regrettable 447 that the Government have felt it necessary to bring back the provision, because that is a reflection of the deteriorating position. There was a ceasefire when the Bill was introduced, and that ceasefire has ended.
It would be interesting to hear from the Government whether there is a firm intention to introduce such a code. We already had a power to introduce a code, but it was never used. I should be grateful if the Government will tell us whether they will prepare a code.
These matters are being considered by the Lloyd review. The Government recently assured us that the Lloyd review—which affects this amendment and every other provision in the Bill—would be delivered by October. As a matter of clarification, will the Lloyd review be published in October, or will it be delivered only to the Government, for private consideration, for some months before the Opposition and the public can see it? It would be useful to know whether we will be able to have public discussion of the review in October or whether it will be some months after that.

§ Sir John Wheeler
I shall reply very briefly to the hon. Member for Clydebank and Milngavie (Mr. Worthington) and tell him this about the codes. No decision has yet been made to commence work on codes of practice in respect of the part II powers. As he will know, those powers have been used much less frequently than when terrorist activity was at its height.
If, however, the security situation deteriorates and the use of the powers increases significantly, the Government would give careful consideration to the drawing up of such codes of practice as an additional safeguard for the public and for members of the security forces.
As I have said elsewhere, the Lloyd review will be published in October and will be available for scrutiny by the hon. Member for Clydebank and Milngavie and by all others with an interest in this matter.
Lords amendment agreed to.
Lords amendment No. 2 agreed to.