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Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill

I hope that my earlier comments about the amendment satisfied the hon. Lady. The Government’s purpose is to ensure that when the Assembly judges the time to be right to seek the devolution of policing and justice powers it can implement whichever model it concludes is appropriate. The amendment would have run counter to that purpose, because it would have restricted the number of options available to the Assembly rather than enhancing it. The Government believe that the Assembly should choose whether it has two Departments, how it runs them and how accountability to the Assembly is determined. The hon. Lady made an important point about the Policing Board. She will note that paragraph 4.5 of the discussion paper, ““Devolving Policing and Justice in Northern Ireland””, which we published earlier this year, stresses the importance of considering the political oversight of policing and whether any Assembly committee performs that role. That will need to be considered in the light of the Assembly’s wishes. The Patten recommendations set out key roles for the Policing Board, on which a number of MLAs are represented. The document states:"““Providing clear lines of accountability will be important to ensuring the system works well.””" It will be up to the Assembly to consider those matters.