Mr James Paice (South East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

I beg to move amendment No. 103, in

clause 47, page 27, line 28, leave out 'competent' and insert 'relevant judicial'.

I knew it would be worth coming to the Committee this morning. I shall begin by adding my congratulations to the Minister on her appointment. I commend her on the way in which she has fulfilled her responsibilities in the past two hours or so. I have just seen the clock, and this is the worst possible time to be moving an amendment. I shall endeavour to speak to it briefly so that I do not have to try to remember where I was in the middle of a sentence at 2.30 pm.

Amendment No. 103 relates to chapter 5 of the Bill, which is about the transfer of prisoners abroad. There are more significant issues to raise later, so this is simply an exploratory amendment on the definition of the term ''competent''. We have suggested that that should be deleted and that the Secretary of State, pursuant to an agreement with the judicial authority of a participating country, should issue the warrant.

I recognise from the debate in the other place that in the UK not all the competent authorities will be judicial authorities. Customs and Excise, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Prison Service could be described as competent authorities. I readily accept that perhaps the word ''judicial'' is not appropriate, but I should like the Minister to explain a little more about what the Government might think is a competent authority from abroad. Will it be a body listed in a bilateral arrangement? Will there have to be any previous arrangement about which are the competent authorities in participating countries, and certainly in the country that is requesting the transfer of a prisoner, or will a decision on whether a body is competent be made by our Government on each individual occasion?

I am concerned that some measures in the Bill are tending to assume that the body abroad, which will be making various requests—in the context of this clause, it will be the request for a transfer of a prisoner—will be the right authority. We must bear in mind the types

of countries with which we may be having such a relationship.

It being twenty-five minutes past Eleven o'clock, The Chairman adjourned the Committee pursuant to the Standing Order.

Adjourned till this day at half-past Two o'clock.