HL Deb 03 April 2003 vol 646 cc1507-9

45 Clause 28, page 19, line 19, leave out from beginning to "accordingly" in line 22 and insert "members of the police support staff—

  1. (a) a member of the police support staff must be treated as an employee of the Chief Constable in relation to conduct in reliance or purported reliance on a designation under section 23;
  2. (b) conduct by a member of the police support staff in reliance or purported reliance on a designation under section 23 must be taken to be conduct in the course of that employment;
  3. (c) in the case of a tort, the Chief Constable".

46 page 19, line 23, leave out subsection (2).

47 Clause 36, page 22, line 18, leave out paragraph (a).

Lord Williams of Mostyn

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 45 to 47.

Clause 28 was added to the Bill by government amendment during our Report stage. It makes provision for the purpose of determining liability for unlawful conduct in the case of conduct by a designated person in purported reliance on that designation.

It was decided in another place that the provision should be refined. At that time the clause provided for the Policing Board to be treated as a joint tortfeasor in the case of action by board employees in reliance on a designation and for the Department of Finance and Personnel to be the joint tortfeasor in the case of civil servants. The preferred position is for the Chief Constable to be responsible as the support staff are under his direction and control. Amendments Nos. 45 and 46 reflect that refinement.

As to Amendment No. 47, at present Clause 36 amends Article 66 of the PACE (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 on codes of practice to allow that the Secretary of State may provide by order for a code of practice to have effect with modifications, although these must be confined to one or more of the following: the effect of the code in relation to an area of Northern Ireland specified in the order; the effect of the code in relation to a period not exceeding two years specified in the order; and the effect of the code in relation to offences or descriptions of offenders specified in the order.

The purpose of the amendment is to remove the possibility of a code of practice being modified under Article 66(6A) so as to apply within a particular area of Northern Ireland. Of course, there is only one police service in Northern Ireland and therefore there is no necessity to stipulate a geographic area.

Amendment No. 53 concerns Schedule I, which relates to the provisions in Clauses 23 and 24 dealing with the exercise of police powers by designated police support staff and contracted-out staff. The powers are similar to those that have been made available in England and Wales for designated civilians through the Police Reform Act 2002. These provisions were brought forward at the express request of the Chief Constable and with the support of the board.

Part 1 of the schedule includes a range of powers which may be needed to support the work of civilian investigating officers in specialist areas. It covers powers to enter and search premises following arrest, which are particularly relevant to the work of scenes of crimes officers, many of whom are now civilians.

Part 2 covers powers that may be exercised by detention officers at police stations. Part 3 covers escort powers. Part 4 defines the meanings of certain terms used in Schedule 1.

The purpose of the specific amendment is to extend standard safeguards to warrants dealt with by designated persons in gaining access to excluded and special procedure material. I commend the amendments to the House.

Moved, That the House do agree with the Commons in their Amendments Nos. 45 to 47.—(Lord Williams of Mostyn.)

On Question, Motion agreed to.