§ Lord Dean of Beswickasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they intend to announce their proposals of new powers to confiscate the assets of drug traffickers and other criminals.
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Lord Williams of Mostyn)We will publish tomorrow the Third Report of the Home Office Working Group on Confiscation. Copies of the report will be placed in the Library and the Printed Paper Office. The report recommends measures to strengthen the legislation on confiscation and money laundering and its practical operation. It also proposes extending powers for the forfeiture of criminal assets in civil proceedings. In view of the innovatory nature of some of the working group's recommendations, it is important that the public should be able to comment on what is proposed. There will be a consultation period until the end of February.
Effective means of recovering criminal assets and depriving organised crime of its working capital are an essential tool of law enforcement. We attach great importance to ensuring that these powers are modernised. We are also determined that new powers should be subject to the right safeguards. The Government will take account of the responses to the report before reaching decisions on its recommendations. In the meantime, we propose to initiate a separate study of the possibility, discussed in the report, of establishing a confiscation or forfeiture agency.