Clause 15 - Nominating a court etc. to receive evidence
Crime (International Co-operation) Bill [Lords]
10:15 am
Mr Nick Hawkins (Surrey Heath, Conservative)
I have a brief point to raise. The clause was not debated at all in the other place, because there were a couple of amendments that Baroness Carnegy of Lour did not move, for reasons that she explained. In effect, the clause went through the other place on the nod. We on the Conservative Benches do not have a problem with the clause; in fact, we strongly approve of subsection (2), which is about the Secretary of State referring matters that relate to serious or complex fraud to the director of the Serious Fraud Office.
I hope the Minister will be able to answer just one question. If he cannot answer it today, I hope that he will, with his usual courtesy, do me the honour of writing to me to explain things. Subsection (1) says:
''Where the evidence is in England and Wales or Northern Ireland, the Secretary of State may by a notice nominate a court to receive any evidence to which the request relates which appears to the court to be appropriate for the purpose of giving effect to the request.''
What form will that notice take? If that has, as I anticipate, been going on since the 1990 Act, perhaps the Minister could show me an example of the notices that are used. If he cannot answer now, perhaps he will write to me and other Committee members.