Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
10:30 am
Nicholas Winterton (Macclesfield, Conservative)
I welcome hon. Members to this first sitting of the Public Bill Committee on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. Although I have already done so in the Programming Sub-Committee, I welcome in particular those new hon. Members who have been thrown into the lions’ den at an early stage of their parliamentary career—the hon. Members for Ealing, Southall and for Sedgefield. I hope that they enjoy our proceedings.
Before we begin, I have several preliminary domestic announcements to make. I am always pleased that hon. Members are as comfortable as possible so, if they wish, they may remove their jackets during our sittings. I request them to ensure that their mobile telephones, pagers and other electronic devices that make noise are turned off or switched to silent mode during sittings. If I hear any intervention from such gadgets, the look on my face will tell all.
I remind the Committee that copies of the money resolution in connection with the Bill are available in the room. I also remind hon. Members that adequate notice should be given of amendments. As a general rule, I and my fellow Chairman, Mr. O’Hara—who happens to be in the room—do not intend to call starred amendments, including any that might be reached during an afternoon sitting of the Committee. I hope that the lead spokesmen for Opposition parties, in particular, will take note of that.
We are still in the very early days of taking oral evidence in Public Bill Committee proceedings, so it might help if I explain briefly what is proposed so that we can all be clear what we are about and how we should proceed. The Committee will first be asked to consider the programme motion on the amendment paper on which debate is limited to half an hour. We shall then proceed to a motion to report written evidence and a further motion to permit the Committee to deliberate in private in advance of the oral evidence sessions, which I hope that we can take formally. Assuming that that motion has been agreed, the Committee will then move into private session. After it has deliberated, witnesses and members of the public will be invited back into the room and our oral evidence session will commence. If the Committee agrees to the programme motion, it will hear oral evidence today and on Thursday before reverting next week to the more familiar proceedings of clause by clause scrutiny of the Bill. I call the Minister to move the programme motion.