Clause 45 - Code of practice: Chief Constable
Railways and Transport Safety Bill
4:00 pm
Mr David Jamieson (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport; Plymouth, Devonport, Labour)
On that last point, in future the code of practice could set out courses of action for the British Transport police—how to react to certain terrorist activities, for example. I do not think that the hon. Lady is suggesting that that code of practice should be published, put on the Department website and flashed round the world for everyone to see, which would clearly be inappropriate in those circumstances.
Equally, in certain circumstances, releasing the code could put people in jeopardy and the clause catches situations in which that could happen. Such a thing would be unusual, but it could happen.
The hon. Lady said that she first heard about the chief constables' code of practice in the Committee. I heard about it first during proceedings on the Police Reform Act 2002, which came into force on 1 October 2002. However, the Home Secretary will place the code before Parliament in due course, and I dare say that he will also place it in the Library. I will certainly examine the procedures in the House, which are relatively new, to see whether we would issue a written statement. I am open to suggestions about how we can make procedures more open. I often hear about information being placed in the Library, and I have a vision of desks and cupboards groaning under the weight of the things placed there. If it helps, we will certainly consider the way in which we make announcements.
It may have been a slip of the tongue, but the hon. Lady said that the code would be a change to secondary legislation. However, we would use only powers under the primary legislation to introduce the code.
Question put and agreed to.
Clause 45 ordered to stand part of the Bill.