Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (Code of Practice) Order 2020

Lord Mackay of Clashfern Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Mackay of Clashfern (Con) [V]]

My Lords, my introduction to law in government was as the Lord Advocate, then a member of the UK Government and responsible for the conduct of prosecutions in Scotland, among some other things represented in local areas by procurators fiscal. This arrangement was very old and intended to provide a fair system of prosecution across Scotland. Much later, an organised police force was created but bound to obey any relevant instructions of the Lord Advocate. This resulted in a unified prosecution system. In this part of the kingdom, the police had a more independent part in prosecution. During my time in the Government, the Crown Prosecution Service was set up, but it was not given the same formal relationship with the police to which I had been accustomed. This code is the result.

 While I was Lord Chancellor, a case arose that demonstrated the importance of disclosure to the fairness of a prosecution. The Home Secretary, Michael Howard, decided that this was appropriate for legislation, and he kindly invited me to participate in the formulation of the legislation. After a good deal of thought, we agreed on the provisions of the Act, which—looking at them again after all this time—I think are rather neat and complete.

In the nature of their training, a difference in sensitivity on this matter is to be expected between lawyers and police officers, and serious difficulties emerged in some cases. The detailed review and consideration that have followed have produced this revised code. In my view, it captures the spirit of the statutory provisions. Of necessity, it contains important provisions of a bureaucratic nature. Some of these have been the subject of questions by the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, who is extremely experienced in this area, and I commend to the Minister answering these questions, because they show there may be room for improvement in the code in due time—although I think it is important that the code as it now is should be brought into force as soon as possible.