§ Mr. Soamesasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the police codes of practice introduced on 1 January under sections 66 and 67 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 have been adopted by the immigration service.
§ Mr. HurdSection 67(9) of the Act provides that persons other than police officers charged with the duty of investigating offences or charging offenders shall have regard to any relevant provisions in the police codes. Immigration officers are not so charged, but I have decided that the immigration service will apply relevant aspects of the police codes in the investigation of offences. To this end, two codes of practice have been introduced; one covers search, seizure, interview, treatment of persons,178W and the other, minimum standards for immigration detention centres. As indicated in the reply given to the hon. Member for Bradford, West (Mr. Madden) on 19 May, at column 14, it was our intention to publish the codes and I have now placed a copy of each in the Library.