Clause 46 - Escorts
Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill
4:45 pm
Ms Rosie Winterton (Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department; Doncaster Central, Labour)
Clause 46 amends schedule 2(17) of the 1971 Act. It will give detainee custody officers a limited power of entry to private premises in order to search detained persons prior to escorting them to a place of detention. People who are being taken to a place of detention must be searched before they are transported, most obviously to ensure that they are not carrying weapons or other dangerous items. That is to ensure the safety and security of the escort, the public and the detained persons. The power to search detained persons is provided in paragraph 2 of schedule 13 to the 1999 Act.
At present, escorting officers cannot enter private premises other than by consent, and when consent is not given, the detained person has to be taken to the nearest police station to be searched by the escort. That causes unnecessary delay, imposes a burden on police resources, and can be needlessly distressing to detainees. The clause removes those problems by ensuring that the search can take place at the detainee's address.
Government amendments Nos. 252 and 255 are linked and merely rectify a drafting error. To be consistent with escorts' existing power to search a detained person, which is contained in paragraph 2 of
schedule 13 to the 1999 Act, the power to enter private premises will be triggered by the detention rather than by the arrest of a person. The amendments are minor and will ensure that the trigger for the power to enter private premises is consistent with escorts' existing power to search a detained person. I hope that the Committee will accept that these are minor drafting amendments and will accept them accordingly.