Part of Terrorism Bill – in the House of Commons at 3:45 pm on 15 February 2006.
I shall finish the information, for the benefit of the House, about the single point of contact officers. When people see the broad statement in the Bill about a police constable being able to take the action described, I understand their concerns and I am seeking to allay them.
The special branch officers who, as I said, are properly accredited, would assess whether it was necessary to get the information from the service providers, and they would try and offer assurance to those providers and work with them. I am assured that the officers have all been on a proper course of training. Details of all the accredited individuals are available to the service providers so that they can be reassured about the person they are dealing with.
We are considering the appropriate level for the authorisation of the power. In many areas powers are authorised at superintendent level. We have not reached a final decision about that, but if we read across from the regulation of investigatory powers legislation, that is the appropriate level.