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Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill

My Lords, I have a query in relation to Amendment 245. A number of years ago, I was a member of the complaints committee of Northumbria Police Authority. I well remember being advised that every complaint that was written down was provided to the committee to see, whether or not it was regarded as spurious and whether or not action had been taken or was going to be taken. We were given all the original correspondence and a summary of the action that had been or would be taken. That system seemed to work well. However, I would appreciate the Minister’s clarification on a point in the Bill. Paragraph 8(2) of Schedule 14 to the Bill substitutes paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002 with a new sub-paragraph which states: "““Where a complaint is made to the Commission, it shall give notification of the complaint to the appropriate authority””." So far, so good, but it then states: "““But the Commission need not give that notification if the Commission considers that there are exceptional circumstances that justify its not being given””." It is not clear to me, but it may be made clear by regulations or other means, what the definition of ““exceptional circumstances”” is. Years ago, I was in a position where every complaint was written down and was provided to the complaints committee. We need to be reassured that a structure is not being created whereby complaints made are simply not acted upon because there are deemed to be exceptional circumstances that justify there being no further progress on them.