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Coroners and Justice Bill

I will try to keep my reply to an hour and a half; I hope that will fit with the mood of the House. This is an interesting proposition. We do not think that the right answer is to interfere with the PACE codes, as we do not think this is really a PACE issue. I will come to that shortly. However, there clearly is an issue. I shall just say a word about the case of Wood, the judicial review challenge to the taking of overt photographs in April 2005 and the subsequent retention of those photographs by the Metropolitan Police. Andrew Wood’s claim was that his right to respect for privacy under Article 8 of the ECHR had been violated by the taking and retention of the photos. Its judgment, which was a majority judgment—that is not meant to be an implication in any way that it is one that the Government do not like; it is just a fact—was that taking the overt photographs at this public order event was done in pursuance of a legitimate aim, but that it was not proportionate to retain them once it had become clear that the person photographed, Mr Wood, had not committed any offence at the event in question, which, on the facts of this particular case, was within days. The fact that Mr Wood had been seen briefly associating with someone with a record of public order offences was found to be insufficient to justify the lengthier retention of the photographs for potential and unknown future use. Therefore, while the Court of Appeal has endorsed the taking of photographs at public order events in so far as it has not found the practice to be unlawful, it has found that the continuing retention of photographs will generally have to be justified by the existence of clear grounds for suspecting that the individual photographed may have committed an offence at the event in question. The Metropolitan Police say that the amendment does not add huge value in the context of the Wood judgment, as it is already the practice of the Metropolitan Police Public Order Unit to destroy photographs well within a year when no offence has been committed. The Home Office is considering the implications of the Wood judgment carefully with the police service. Rather than amending PACE codes of practice and setting out what might be seen as an arbitrary one-year time limit, we believe that the more effective route is to work with ACPO to ensure that all forces are clear about the implications of the judgment and that appropriate and effective guidance is issued on compliance with the judgment. All forces need to review their policies and procedures on taking and retaining images of individuals in the light of the Court of Appeal ruling. Nothing in the Wood judgment places a time limit on the retention of images. A retention period of one year for a photograph of an individual who has not been arrested or charged with any criminal activity would appear to go against the spirit of the Data Protection Act. Under this Act, personal information must comply with the eight data protection principles, one of which, as the noble Baroness knows much better than me, stipulates that personal information must not be kept for longer than necessary. The one-year time limit also appears to run contrary to the judgment in Wood, in which the Court of Appeal held that the photograph should have been destroyed as soon as it became clear that he has not committed any offence. It said that that should have been apparent within a few days. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 governs the taking, retention and use of photographs of persons detained at a police station, as well as photographs taken on the street of people who have been arrested by a police officer, detained or given a fixed penalty notice. PACE code D sets out the procedures for conducting identification parades to enable witnesses and victims to identify suspects. These powers are focused on evidence of either the identity of the person suspected of the offence or evidence of the offence in question. The amendment would extend the scope of PACE code D’s provisions to all images taken by the police, including intelligence information. We are not convinced that the codes of practice are the appropriate vehicle for governing retention of all photographs taken by the police. Paragraph 3.4 of PACE code D relates to the procedures governing the conduct of identification procedures when the identity of a suspect is known, not the retention of images. The inclusion of paragraphs 3.4(a) and (b) in the noble Baroness’s amendment is in danger of being slightly confusing. I know that the noble Baroness is not pushing for the amendment today, however, and I am grateful for raising what is undoubtedly an important issue. I ask her to withdraw the amendment.