Clause 65 - Inspection
Energy Bill [Lords]
4:15 pm
Mr Norman Baker (Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Environment, Food & Rural Affairs; Lewes, Liberal Democrat)
I am not sure whether to welcome a voluntary agreement. If the Government are not planning a statutory requirement for the constabulary to come under the IPCC, I will regret that. Under the IPCC arrangements, members of the public have the right to complain about the behaviour of a police officer. It is possible that members of the public may interact with officers of the constabulary, because they may be within 5 km of a nuclear site. It would be wrong if they did not have that statutory right to invoke the complaints procedure.
A voluntary agreement presumably means that the Government intend that the constabulary should come under the IPCC. If they have that intention, why is it not being put on a statutory footing?