§ Mr. RobathanTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when he expects the revised statutory code of practice in respect of authorised investigators to come into operation. [34491]
§ Sir Patrick MayhewI have today laid before Parliament a revised draft code of practice in connection with the exercise by authorised investigators of the powers conferred by schedule 5 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1991, as I am required to do by paragraph 7(3) of that schedule. I intend also to make an order which will bring the code into operation on 1 August 1995. The revised code was published for consultation on 3 April 1995 and takes account of a change to the 1991 Act which relaxes the law by permitting authorised investigators to obtain information in writing rather than requiring individuals to attend for interview and produce documents.
The draft code provides guidance to authorised investigators on how they should exercise their powers and contains a number of valuable safeguards for those who may be interviewed by them.