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Police and Justice Bill

I shall prefigure my comments by saying that there may be some warmth in them, but, ultimately, I am afraid that there has to be rejection. However, I hope that that will not entirely colour Committee Members’ expectations of what I shall say. The paragraph to which this amendment has been tabled already imposes a general duty on the chief inspector to secure that there is available to him sufficient expertise and experience—which is the relevant part—relating to the systems and organisations falling within the scope of his duties. In imposing that duty, the Government fully recognise that inspection not only of police authorities but also of police operations, prisons, courts and offender management all involve specialist knowledge and an in-depth understanding of quite distinct cultures and working environments. In addition, they may require the importation of professional judgments and expertise from areas outside the criminal justice system—for example, healthcare in prisons or work with young offenders. That may be achieved by maintaining and developing expertise in the inspectorate’s staff through the use of professional advisers and perhaps by working jointly with other inspectorates, such as the healthcare inspectorate, wherever necessary or required. Paragraphs 8, 11 and 12 of Schedule 9 strengthen the abilities and requirements for such joint working. In particular, paragraph 12(2) provides that inspections of police authorities must be carried out jointly with the Audit Commission. It would be at best an unnecessary encumbrance to make it a statutory requirement to involve in an inspection individuals representing the interests of particular inspected bodies. At worst, to require such persons to be part of the inspection team and regime could undermine the independence of the inspection process. I do not think that anyone wants to interfere with that independence; after all, it has been a much-hallowed value during our debates about the future of the inspectorate. We expect that the managers of inspected bodies will continue to be engaged with closely by the inspectorate about emerging inspection findingsand be able to comment on inspection reports before they are published. But, ultimately, it must be for the chief inspector to decide the nature and degree of involvement of those inspected in the inspection. We understand entirely the sentiments behind the amendment and recognise the need for expert and professional advice to be available to the inspectorate, but we do not want to fetter or interfere with the important independence that it must have in order to retain public credibility and for inspectorate reports to enjoy the respect they currently have. There is probably scope for further discussion outside the parameters of the debate on this amendment, but ultimately we have to resist it.