§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in view of the different circumstances prevailing there, they will consider excluding Northern Ireland from certain sections of the Police Bill.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Northern Ireland Office (Baroness Denton of Wakefield)I can assure the noble Lord that the Government have considered most carefully which parts of the Police Bill should extend to Northern Ireland. Accordingly, provisions for a national crime squad extend only to England and Wales, while the National Criminal Intelligence Services (NCIS) and the Police Information and Technology Organisation (PITO) are specifically designed to be UK-wide bodies, and thus should include Northern Ireland.
The Government believe that regulations for the use of intrusive surveillance techniques should be applied on the same basis in Northern Ireland as in the rest of the UK.
As for the proposals for access to criminal records, the Government believe it would be wrong to provide vulnerable groups in Northern Ireland with less protection than those in the rest of the UK.