Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill [HL]

Lord Rosser Excerpts

Tuesday 28th June 2016 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Rosser]

20: After Clause 18, insert the following new Clause—
“United Kingdom Border Force: code of practice
(1) The Secretary of State shall publish, and lay before Parliament, a code of practice for Border Force employees on the handling of, and training and enforcement practices relating to, cultural property covered by this Act.(2) At the end of the period of one year after the passing of this Act, the Secretary of State shall publish a report outlining whether and how practice at the United Kingdom Border Force has changed in response to the passing of this Act, and the code of practice.”

[Lord Rosser]

The Bill, as we know, seeks to introduce the necessary domestic legislation to enable us to ratify the 1954 Hague convention. The Bill makes it an offence to deal in cultural property that has been unlawfully exported from occupied territory if the perpetrator knew, or had reason to respect, that the cultural property concerned had been unlawfully exported. The purpose of Amendment 20 is to try to find out a bit more from the Government about the impact that they are assuming that the Bill will have on Border Force staff, as one assumes that they will have a role to play in detecting and apprehending those who try to deal illegally in the cultural property covered by the Bill.

The impact assessment advises us that the National Crime Agency and Border Force will not face any significant costs as a result of the Bill and that any costs will be absorbed into what is described as daily business. In relation to the Border Force, whose budget was cut by more than £300 million by the previous Government in the years up to 2015 and which was widely reported by certain sections of the national press during the referendum campaign as not being capable of preventing people from Calais landing on our coast away from the major ports, it seems odd that the Government are contemplating any additional costs without undertaking to provide the required resources to match those costs. To what extent, then, does the Bill simply extend a form of activity in which Border Force staff are already engaged, and to what extent is this a new area of responsibility for Border Force staff? If it is a type of activity that Border Force staff are already engaged in, to what extent will the Bill lead to an additional workload, and will any additional staff be required whose costs will have to be absorbed into daily business? If this is a completely new area of responsibility for Border Force staff, what will be the nature of the additional workload? If any additional staff are required, what additional training and skills will be needed and what will be the cost and time span of that training, the costs of which will have to be absorbed into daily business? In saying that the Border Force will not face any significant costs, could the Government tell us the financial threshold that they used in this instance to decide that any costs that are to be absorbed into daily business should not be deemed to have reached the level of significant costs?

--- Later in debate ---

This is highly technical. Clause 25 sets out the requirements for giving notice to the owner of cultural property which has been seized or retained by the police. It is an important clause and I hope I have given enough information in relation to some of the other questions and provisions to make the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, feel able to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Rosser]

I thank the Minister for that response. Certainly I shall wish to read carefully the full response in Hansard when I get the opportunity. I was not sure whether I was being told that there would be no additional costs for transport companies or whether that was included as part of the statement that there were no additional costs on business.

I want to read carefully what the noble Baroness said because, overall, I begin to get the impression that, as far as the Bill is concerned, the role of the Border Force and the detecting and apprehending of those who may be acting illegally are to be peripheral. I got the impression that other people would find out who were acting illegally and would then invite the Border Force to stop them as appropriate, rather than the Border Force itself being engaged in detection work. If I have understood that correctly it clarifies the position, which was one of the objectives of Amendment 20.

I will read carefully in Hansard what the Minister has said but, in the meantime, I thank her for her reply and beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Amendment 20 withdrawn.