Clause 1 - The Security Industry Authority
Private Security Industry Bill [Lords]
9:55 am
Mr Bruce George (Walsall South, Labour)
I beg to move amendment No. 2, in page 2, line 19, at end insert—
`Without prejudice to subsections (3) and (4), the Authority will—
(a) carry out a fundamental review of the practice and operation of the Act;
(b) send to the Secretary of State a written report on the review within three years of the provisions coming into force; and if different days have been appointed within three years of the first provision coming into force; and the Secretary of State shall lay a copy of such a report before each House of Parliament.'.
I have not been a regular attender of Standing Committees during this Parliament, and I gave the game away by coming in and sitting down on the wrong side of the Room, before being forcibly removed. My reticence or lack of enthusiasm for putting my name down for Standing Committees—and my valiant resistance if chosen—is because they are often Parliament at its worst, unlike the Committees that we chair, Mr. Winterton, which are free-spirited, critical, and prepared to challenge established principles. I had quite forgotten how people usually seek to ingratiate themselves with you, Mr. Winterton, prior to speaking. In many ways we are both reformers and renegades, so I am sure that you will look very tolerantly on any obstreperous behaviour of which I may be guilty.
What appears to be good about this Committee—and quite worrying for the future of Parliament—is that we might even agree on most things, as we do in Select Committees; the last vote on the Defence Committee was in 1982. The hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) did not have the advantage of reading the psychological profiling, which was a bit like discovering the code to the Rosetta stone. Now we really know how to deal with him. It may be difficult for him to be in an environment in which sweetness and light, generosity of spirit, and willingness to legislate free of political partisanship may occasionally shine through.