Clause 20
Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill
1:00 pm
Paul Goggins (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Northern Ireland Office; Wythenshawe and Sale East, Labour)
I suspect, Sir Nicholas, that the only person who can remember is the Hansard reporter, but we shall proceed anyway.
I think that I was finally about to persuade the hon. Gentleman that the word “necessary” was preferable to the word “reasonable”. Let me give an example of why “necessary” is the right word to use here. For instance, an officer could detain an individual, stop them to question them and ask them for details of their home address. After the individual gives some information, the officer may ask, “Well, what colour is your front door then?” When the person answers that question, the officer may then ask, “What street is the next street?” When the person answers, the officer must send someone to check whether that information is accurate. If it is accurate, the person will be released; if there are further grounds for questioning, the questioning will continue. In other words, that officer can detain that individual for as long as it is “necessary” to carry out those inquiries. “Necessary” is a more black-and-white, a more certain word than “reasonable”, which, as I suggested earlier, offers too much room for doubt and uncertainty.