§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the categories of officials by Department entitled to statutory right of entry to private property.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. I can, however, assure my hon. Friend that the Government are concerned that statutory rights of entry should not be created unnecessarily. A systematic review of powers of entry by public officials was completed in 1981. As a result of the review, Ministers recommended that 30 powers should be revoked and up to 63 modified. Following the review, the Government instituted arrangements which provide for the Department to scrutinise centrally all new proposals to provide new legal powers of entry in order to ensure that they are fully justified and that they do not impose an undue burden on those who will be affected by them.