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Counter-Terrorism Bill

moved Amendment No. 8: 8: Clause 5, page 4, line 25, leave out subsection (1) The noble Baroness said: Under Clause 5, retention of documents is limited to 48 hours without further authorisation. Again this is a probing amendment. I should like to refer to the Northern Ireland Act, when it was in use, and ask the noble Lord how long documents such as this were held in Northern Ireland. Was it for longer than 48 hours or was it within that 48-hour limit? I suspect that it might have been less. Would the Government expect it to take longer in England and Wales to clarify whether documents are needed? I am talking about getting them back to wherever they are going—to the police station or whatever—and for somebody making up their mind about whether the documents have relevance. Under Clause 5 it is possible for the period of extension to increase to 96 hours, starting from when the documents were originally removed. Can we be sure whether these documents can be held after they have been translated or decrypted? Therefore, if there is an extension of time to 96 hours and the documents require decryption, when does the time begin to run? For how long can they be retained? It looks as through that extension will be from the moment they are seized, but if more time is required—I can understand that the translation of documents may take time and then a decision needs to be made—is there any question that they may go beyond the 96 hours, and beyond 96 hours from when they were originally seized? This is quite important. Clause 6 deals with access to those documents by the people they have been seized from, so we need to know where the timescales begin. I beg to move.