Police Reform

Debate between Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Tebbit

Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, does my noble friend not agree that this report is a tale not so much of poor structures—although there are poor structures—but primarily of a failure of leadership in the police force, as the noble Lord, Lord Dear, suggested? Therefore, will he accept that I welcome the concept of more direct entrants into the police force, and I hope that special priority will be given to members of the Armed Forces who are being made redundant despite their fine records, who could come into the police force and do great good work? If there is a structure that needs changing, it is that we should re-establish a proper college for the senior officers of the police force to be induced into the police force and to take the leadership role in it.

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I agree with my noble friend. It is certainly the case that many people who have been active in the Armed Forces have qualities that could be important in policing. I do not know that I would go as far as to say that they should be given priority but they should clearly be encouraged to apply for those posts.

Immigration: Detention

Debate between Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Tebbit

Wednesday 4th December 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

The operational practices are not a matter that I want to discuss particularly but this case has great public interest. It is not the first time that an aircraft has been chartered for this purpose. It might help noble Lords to know that the number of enforced removals in 2008 was 17,200-odd and last year it was 14,600-odd. However, voluntary removals went up from 18,000 to 29,663 last year.

[Lord Tebbit (Con)]

My Lords, are not all so-called detainees free to leave the so-called detention centre at any time, but only through the door marked “home” and not through the door marked “United Kingdom”? Should our noble friend Lord Roberts not make his complaint to the Nigerian authorities, which refused to accept one of their own citizens back home?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I will not comment on the latter point but, obviously, the Government’s policy is that when people are here and they have no permission to remain they should depart voluntarily.

Visas: Foreign Domestic Workers

Debate between Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Tebbit

Thursday 4th July 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

Indeed, anybody who violates the trafficking laws in this country is subject to the full force of the criminal law. Given that individuals have already worked for their employer for 12 months overseas, it is reasonable to assume that there is a normal employer-employee relationship between those individuals.

[Lord Tebbit]

It is my understanding that there is a great deal of abuse of such people, most often Filipinos, by the embassies of certain nations which we need not mention. What can my noble friend do about that? Embassies claim diplomatic immunity, and they abuse those people, Filipinos in particular, who then essentially escape from the embassies and become illegal immigrants here. What can we do to help them?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

We are bound by the Vienna convention in terms of the employment of staff at embassies, so the extension of British employment law in that regard is not possible. I think that this Question focuses, legitimately, on those who come here under the new six-month visitor domestic service agreements, which is a different arrangement.

Charity Commission: Bogus Charities

Debate between Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Tebbit

Wednesday 4th May 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Tebbit]

My Lords, I gained the impression from my noble friend’s original Answer that he does not think that anything more needs to be done about this problem than is being done at the moment. Am I right in that assessment?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I hope I can reassure my noble friend that I am not complacent on this issue. What I am saying, however, is that considerable resources across Government are devoted to making sure that there is no abuse of charitable funding and no misapplication of funds for terrorism. We have the Charity Commission itself, HMRC, the police and the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit. All these bodies, as part of Government, are dedicated to making sure that there is no abuse of charitable giving.

Prisoners: Voting

Debate between Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Tebbit

Tuesday 25th January 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

That is a proposition that the Government have indeed considered.

[Lord Tebbit]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Tebbit]

Will my noble friend answer a question that I put to the noble Lord, Lord Bach, when he was in government? When were the British people given the opportunity to express their view on this matter?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

The British people express their view on these sorts of issues through Parliament and through parliamentary debate. We are signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights—indeed, we were one of the founding signatory states—and generally I think that the British people believe in obeying the jurisdiction of conventions to which we sign up.

Non-departmental Public Bodies

Debate between Lord Taylor of Holbeach and Lord Tebbit

Tuesday 19th October 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

It is important for noble Lords to bear in mind that this is a complex process. The decision-making process has been decided; now we have the implementation process. Implementation involves people’s lives and jobs and it would be recklessly irresponsible to anticipate how government departments will handle individual public bodies within their remits. That is why I am not in a position to give any further details than I have already given.

[Lord Tebbit]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[Lord Tebbit]

I know, my Lords, that Labour Peers used to practise that game on the sofas in among the spin doctors, but it is overwhelmingly in the public interest that the spending review comes out first and that the details of it are then announced so that we can see how they fit into it.

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I thank my noble friend for his intervention, which reinforces the point which I have been making, that there will be a series of announcements from individual spending departments consequent upon the spending review.