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Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

One of my responsibilities as Minister for Policing, Crime and Counter-Terrorism is to look at what the police are saying about these issues. I refer the hon. Gentleman to the former assistant commissioner, Bob Quick, who said in providing evidence on the Counter-Terrorism Bill:""In some investigations, we have seen"" attack planning activity""materialise so quickly that on public safety grounds we have had to act pre-emptively before we have had the opportunity to exploit pre-arrest evidential opportunities. That places a huge burden on the investigating officer."" That view has been supported by the current post holder, Assistant Commissioner John Yates. Only in the past few months, Jonathan Evans, the new director general of the Security Service, has stated:""Al Qaida and other international terrorist organisations remain a very serious threat."" We need to be aware of that and able to take action.