§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Mackay of Clashfern)My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time. This is a consolidation Bill which brings together and makes more readily accessible the existing law relating to the organisation and administration of the police which is presently to be found in the Police Act 1964 and certain other enactments. For the most part, the Bill extends to England and Wales only, because Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own legislation in this area.
Consolidation is desirable in this case because the 1964 Act has been heavily amended by later Acts, most notably Chapter I of Part I of the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994. The Bill also includes those provisions of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, as subsequently amended, governing the establishment and operation of the Police Complaints Authority.
I take this opportunity to offer my thanks—and I am sure those of the whole House—to the draftsman of the Bill and of the other consolidation Bills which will follow it during this Session for continuing their important work. If your Lordships are content to give the Bill a Second Reading, it will be referred in the usual way to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills. I commend the Bill to the House.
Moved, That the Bill be now read a second time.—(The Lord Chancellor.)
On Question, Bill read a second time, and committed to the Joint Committee on Consolidation Bills.