Crime: Media Reporting

Debate between Lord Morris of Aberavon and Baroness Neville-Jones

Tuesday 8th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

Yes, my Lords. I think that the police would agree that they need to be scrupulous in applying the guidance that they have in such cases. Indeed, they should apply it in relation to a person who has been detained by them but not charged. They should take care not to impugn that person’s reputation.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

My Lords, while the press are usually economical in the reporting of an arrested person, would I be right in surmising that the Attorney-General would have expressed some anxieties about the extent of the reports on the arrests in the Bristol case? As Attorney-General, I sometimes had to refer to the courts cases about which I was anxious. I did so not always successfully, as it was not easy to judge where the line had been crossed. In discussions between the Attorney-General and the press, would there be any merit in revisiting the boundary lines of what is fair reporting without prejudicing an arrested person?

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

My Lords, the Attorney-General will obviously take his remit extremely seriously. I do not know whether he will choose that route; the view has certainly been expressed, so I have no doubt that he will take notice of it. I can assure the House that the Attorney-General is quite clear that he needs to examine this issue seriously, because it has considerable ramifications.

European Arrest Warrant and Investigation Order

Debate between Lord Morris of Aberavon and Baroness Neville-Jones

Wednesday 26th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

My Lords, in this House of legal eagles I hesitate, as a non-lawyer, to get on to the grounds, but I understand that the principle of habeas corpus is indeed a legal remedy against unlawful detention. It is therefore right to say that the European arrest warrant in principle is compliant. I accept entirely, however, that there is dissatisfaction with the warrant’s operation, which is what the Government have asked Sir Scott Baker to look into.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

Can the Minister give some indication of how many people have been extradited from this country and to this country in recent years?

Identity Documents Bill

Debate between Lord Morris of Aberavon and Baroness Neville-Jones

Tuesday 21st December 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

I do not think that I am able to enlighten the House any further on the question of taking legal advice. We believe our actions to be lawful.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

I have the record of our debate on the previous occasion in Hansard. I asked, and my noble friend Lord Hunt has referred to this:

“On the assumption that no advice has been obtained from the law officers on these matters, would it be prudent before the next stage of the Bill to obtain such advice?”.

The Minister replied:

“My Lords, I will confirm the advice that I have received”.

I asked:

“Is the advice from the law officers?”,

and the Minister replied:

“I am not sure that I can confirm that. I will seek to do so before Third Reading”—

that is, confirmation that advice had been received from the law officers.

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

My Lords, I think the House knows that it is a strong convention that we do not reveal the source of legal advice. I am confirming to the House that we believe that we are acting lawfully.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

Because I think it is inappropriate to answer it and I cannot take the matter any further. I am very sorry, but I do not think that I can take this any further. The House has made its point and I have given an answer. The House may not regard this answer as satisfactory.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

On the specific point, the noble Baroness said:

“I will seek to do so before Third Reading”.

That was a promise made to the House in the course of the deliberations. Did she seek to do so before today’s proceedings? Has she made any attempt to do so? We know the conventions, which have been broken over the years. One could give a series of examples of the law officers coming to another place to give advice. They can do so, so it is not a convention that cannot be breached at all, but I come back to the simple statement that the noble Baroness made:

“I will seek to do so before Third Reading”.—[Official Report, 17/11/2010; col. 792.]

Did she seek to do so?

Identity Documents Bill

Debate between Lord Morris of Aberavon and Baroness Neville-Jones

Wednesday 17th November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

As I have just said, we do not believe that we are expropriating anybody of their rights. If this is challenged in the courts we will obviously defend that position.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

May I follow that point? The Minister has made the proposition that there is no right in contract by the cardholders and no expropriation. On the assumption that no advice has been obtained from the law officers on these matters, would it be prudent before the next stage of the Bill to obtain such advice?

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

My Lords, I will confirm the advice that I have received.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

Is the advice from the law officers?

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

I am not sure that I can confirm that. I will seek to do so before Third Reading.

We should not exaggerate the significance of all this. Much has been made of the elderly and the very young. We have no reliable demographic information at all on who the purchasers were. We know that 3,000 of the 15,000 were given free to airside workers for a particular purpose.

Policing

Debate between Lord Morris of Aberavon and Baroness Neville-Jones

Monday 26th July 2010 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

The noble Lord makes two points, the first about police authorities and the second about the border policing arrangements. As I said at the outset, I do not think that the Government are claiming that police authorities have been a failure in the sense that they have not been able to exercise functions properly. The point that the Government are making is that the authorities are not visible and, in that sense, properly accountable to local people. Only 7 per cent of people know what the authorities do or have ever heard of them. Some authorities, although not all, perhaps do not rate as more than adequate. We are saying that we can do better. The whole drift of the Government’s policies is to return authority to local people and to make those who have considerable control over the condition of their daily lives more directly accountable to them. One of the ways of doing that is to give both power and authority to somebody whose job is, in the end, owed to the people who put him in that position. There is legitimate room for difference in this area and we will certainly want to consult on the functions of the police authorities and the contributions that they have made over time to see whether some of those aspects can be properly incorporated in the role of the police commissioners. However, we are determined to put police commissioners in place.

The other point that the noble Lord raised was about border policing. He asked whether what I had outlined was the last word. I do not think it is but it is certainly what we think it is sensible to do now. If we manage to get an effective strategy in place—one that unites the functions of the border policing command, which brings together several agencies which are separate at the moment—and, in turn, ensure that that strategy also incorporates the role of the UKBA, which will, however, retain its own functions, we will move a good way down the road of creating a single strategy for border policing. This is the first important thing to do. I am sure that, in the process of doing that, we will find that there are further improvements that we can make.

Turning to SOCA, or the functions performed by SOCA at the moment, I do not know what this part of the agency will eventually be called but those functions will also be closely tied into what we need to do at the border. It is very clear that we must be able to police serious organised crime at level 2. There must be good connections between the constabularies and that part of policing at the national level which is responsible for organised crime. However, we must also be able to operate at the border because of its international dimensions. We need a tight strategy which brings all these elements together.

[Lord Morris of Aberavon]

My Lords—