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Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Application and Modification of Certain Enactments to Designated Staff of SOCA) Order 2006

My Lords, I am most grateful to the noble Baroness and the noble Lord for their general support for the agency in its aims and objectives. I remember the debates that took place, and it is quite proper that we should focus concern on how the agency will operate and on the powers that the staff working for the agency will be able to exercise. The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, asked how many employees will be affected by the bringing together of the different skills within SOCA. My understanding is that roughly 4,200 staff will be brought together in SOCA. Those staff will be those designated with the powers that she described. About 1,000 officers will be designated with the powers of a constable; about 700 will be designated with the powers of customs officers; and 75 will be designated with the powers of immigration officers. The powers of SOCA officers will of course be similar to those of police officers, but, in practice, SOCA officers will not use or need the full range of powers available to police officers. In particular, SOCA officers will not exercise powers that can be exercised only by a constable in uniform. I am sure that the noble Baroness is familiar with those expressions in legislation. SOCA officers will have powers of arrest, but SOCA itself will not have its own detention facilities. A person arrested by a SOCA officer must be taken to a police station to be processed there by a proper custody officer, a process with which I am sure the noble Baroness will be familiar—