§ Mr. Gorstasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is satisfied with the manner in which the Bail Act has operated since it came into effect; whether he has received any representations from the police or any other statutory body complaining about anomalies 782W arising out of it; and what action he proposes to take to review the operation of the Bail Act.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesI have received no formal representations from police forces or any other statutory bodies about alleged anomalies in the Bail Act 1976, though some chief officers of police have expressed concern about the Act to me and my officials. I have also received correspondence from hon. Members about individual cases.
The Bail Act came into force on 17 April 1978, and put beyond doubt that there is a presumption in favour of the grant of bail. But I am glad to take this opportunity to state once again that the Act also made ample provision for the refusal of bail in appropriate cases. The exceptions to the right of bail are contained in schedule 1 to the Act, and I draw particular attention to the fact that they enable a court to refuse bail to a defendant charged with an imprisonable offence if the court is satisfied that there are substantial grounds for believing that, if released on bail, he would fail to surrender to custody or would commit an offence while on bail. In making their bail decisions, courts inevitably rely very heavily on the police to inform them of all relevant considerations.
I have no reason to believe that the provisions of the Act are inadequate, or that they have in any way impeded courts in refusing bail where it is proper to do so. However, an analysis will be made of the bail decisions made by courts in the Act's first year of operation.