My Lords, we will discuss the detail of how direct access will be effected but our intent is that the person who undertakes those inspections will have strengthened rather than reduced powers compared with the current powers. The noble Lord will also be aware that the current inspector does not have...

My Lords, we will discuss the detail of how direct access will be effected but our intent is that the person who undertakes those inspections will have strengthened rather than reduced powers compared with the current powers. The noble Lord will also be aware that the current inspector does not have...

My Lords, my noble friend told us that this was the 52nd Home Office Bill since 1997 and one is tempted to say, rudely, a fat lot they seem to have done for us. One of the points that should be made in that regard is to ask what has happened to the...

My Lords, my noble friend told us that this was the 52nd Home Office Bill since 1997 and one is tempted to say, rudely, a fat lot they seem to have done for us. One of the points that should be made in that regard is to ask what has happened to the...

My Lords, the Police and Justice Bill raises some fundamental questions. I detect no common thread between different parts of it. However, that is to be expected, since the Home Office sees legislation as the answer to all society’s ills; as the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, rightly pointed out, there have been 52 Home...

My Lords, the Police and Justice Bill raises some fundamental questions. I detect no common thread between different parts of it. However, that is to be expected, since the Home Office sees legislation as the answer to all society’s ills; as the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, rightly pointed out, there have been 52 Home...

My Lords, this is a Bill covering a wide range of issues in both policing and justice, of which some are welcome and others, as we have already heard, are very controversial. It develops measures instituted over time by this Government, which here involve still further enhancing the powers of...

My Lords, this is a Bill covering a wide range of issues in both policing and justice, of which some are welcome and others, as we have already heard, are very controversial. It develops measures instituted over time by this Government, which here involve still further enhancing the powers of...

My Lords, it is always easy to listen to the Minister because she is extraordinarily beguiling in the way she sets about her business, but I do not think that I would be the only one to remark on a contrast. If one were to form a point of view of the...

My Lords, it is always easy to listen to the Minister because she is extraordinarily beguiling in the way she sets about her business, but I do not think that I would be the only one to remark on a contrast. If one were to form a point of view of the...

My Lords, I should begin by declaring an interest as a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and of the executive of the Association of Police Authorities. I also chair the All-Party Group on Police, which is supported by the Association of Police Authorities, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the...

My Lords, I should begin by declaring an interest as a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and of the executive of the Association of Police Authorities. I also chair the All-Party Group on Police, which is supported by the Association of Police Authorities, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the...

My Lords, I intend to restrict my remarks to some parts of the Bill that affect children and young people. I shall address Clauses 5 and 6 in relation to community support officers and, in Part 3, Clause 17, which deals with the role of local authorities in relation to crime and disorder, and Clauses 21 to 23, relating...

My Lords, I intend to restrict my remarks to some parts of the Bill that affect children and young people. I shall address Clauses 5 and 6 in relation to community support officers and, in Part 3, Clause 17, which deals with the role of local authorities in relation to crime and disorder, and Clauses 21 to 23, relating...

My Lords, I must first declare an interest as a former chair and now president of the Association of Police Authorities. I was thus fully involved in the consultations arising from the Green Paper Building Safer Communities Together and from the White Paper Building Communities, Beating Crime, which were the precursors of...

My Lords, I must first declare an interest as a former chair and now president of the Association of Police Authorities. I was thus fully involved in the consultations arising from the Green Paper Building Safer Communities Together and from the White Paper Building Communities, Beating Crime, which were the precursors of...

My Lords, sometimes it is an advantage and sometimes a disadvantage to speak about a job that one has had the privilege of undertaking oneself. As the noble Lord, Lord Hurd, has already said, for five and a half years I served as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, a position which...

My Lords, sometimes it is an advantage and sometimes a disadvantage to speak about a job that one has had the privilege of undertaking oneself. As the noble Lord, Lord Hurd, has already said, for five and a half years I served as Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Prisons, a position which...

My Lords, this has not been a happy time for the Home Office. Those who have known it for many years can remember the days when, as a great department of state, its work on crime, crime prevention, law and justice was looked up to throughout the world. Sadly, it...

My Lords, this has not been a happy time for the Home Office. Those who have known it for many years can remember the days when, as a great department of state, its work on crime, crime prevention, law and justice was looked up to throughout the world. Sadly, it...

My Lords, I start by apologising very humbly to the House and the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, in case I am unable to stay until the very end. I have a long-standing family commitment, which I cannot really get out of. This 52nd Bill is perhaps different from the others in being the first to be...

My Lords, I start by apologising very humbly to the House and the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, in case I am unable to stay until the very end. I have a long-standing family commitment, which I cannot really get out of. This 52nd Bill is perhaps different from the others in being the first to be...

My Lords, a Metropolitan Police advertisement for the recruitment of community support officers has been displayed on the London Underground for some weeks, under the strap line, ““Make a visible difference””. As I see it, the whole point of community support officers, first introduced some three or four years ago, is...

My Lords, a Metropolitan Police advertisement for the recruitment of community support officers has been displayed on the London Underground for some weeks, under the strap line, ““Make a visible difference””. As I see it, the whole point of community support officers, first introduced some three or four years ago, is...

My Lords, this has been an absolutely fascinating, thought-provoking and clear introduction to the Police and Justice Bill at Second Reading. I start on a relatively supportive note by welcoming the creation of the new National Policing Improvement Agency; the harmonisation and extension of powers for community support officers, with some...

My Lords, this has been an absolutely fascinating, thought-provoking and clear introduction to the Police and Justice Bill at Second Reading. I start on a relatively supportive note by welcoming the creation of the new National Policing Improvement Agency; the harmonisation and extension of powers for community support officers, with some...

My Lords, one of the drawbacks of being last man in is that it is not one’s task to sum up, although I cannot help referring to some of the quite outstanding contributions that have been made in today’s debate. It also means, of course, that the best targets have already...

My Lords, one of the drawbacks of being last man in is that it is not one’s task to sum up, although I cannot help referring to some of the quite outstanding contributions that have been made in today’s debate. It also means, of course, that the best targets have already...

My Lords, I thank all who have participated in the debate. I join the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, in saying that we have had a comprehensive, well ordered and well informed discourse on these matters. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, that of course we accept that legislation is not the panacea for...

My Lords, I thank all who have participated in the debate. I join the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, in saying that we have had a comprehensive, well ordered and well informed discourse on these matters. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, that of course we accept that legislation is not the panacea for...

My Lords, I add my thanks to the Minister for her introduction to the Bill, and thank noble Lords who have contributed to this Second Reading debate. There have been knowledgeable, powerful and, indeed, passionate contributions from all sides of the Chamber that have highlighted only too clearly the fact that...

My Lords, I add my thanks to the Minister for her introduction to the Bill, and thank noble Lords who have contributed to this Second Reading debate. There have been knowledgeable, powerful and, indeed, passionate contributions from all sides of the Chamber that have highlighted only too clearly the fact that...

Police and Justice Bill. Lords second reading debate. Agreed to on question and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

Police and Justice Bill. Lords second reading debate. Agreed to on question and committed to a Committee of the Whole House.

My Lords, another day, another Home Office Bill. The Violent Crime Reduction Bill has not even reached Report yet. The noble Lord, Lord Bassam of Brighton, who has been dealing with it, tells us to give it time. It sounds as though it will have until October. I am told by the...

My Lords, another day, another Home Office Bill. The Violent Crime Reduction Bill has not even reached Report yet. The noble Lord, Lord Bassam of Brighton, who has been dealing with it, tells us to give it time. It sounds as though it will have until October. I am told by the...

My Lords, our proposal is that someone within the inspectorate will specifically be charged with carrying out the functions currently undertaken by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.

My Lords, our proposal is that someone within the inspectorate will specifically be charged with carrying out the functions currently undertaken by the Chief Inspector of Prisons.