Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Lord Taylor of Holbeach on 20 January (HL Deb, col 523), what progress has been made on licensing for the private security industry.

We expect the regulations to licence the activity of private investigations to come into force in 2015.

We also expect the introduction of the statutory licensing of private security businesses to come into force in 2015, followed thereafter by private
investigation businesses. We are continuing to work with the Security Industry Authority and industry on both regulations.