§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what regulation applies to the private security industry. [37053]
§ Mr. MichaelNo statutory regulation currently applies to the private security industry. We intend to introduce statutory regulation of the private security industry as soon as possible but we will not be able to bring forward early legislation, as we warned before the election. We have recently completed a consultation exercise with the industry and others on the best way to provide a comprehensive, effective and streamlined system for the whole of the private security industry. It is clear from the responses that there is general support for our approach from the industry itself as well as from other respondents and we hope to put forward firm proposals later this year. In the absence of statutory regulation, the industry has taken steps to regulate itself. Several independent Inspectorates exist, inspecting companies to relevant British Standards and the international quality standard BS EN ISO 9000.