Counter-Terrorism Bill
10:30 am
David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I shall amplify that point. Although it is not under discussion at the moment, it will be critical to have sufficient time to discuss the Bill on Report. My hon. Friend the Member for Carshalton and Wallington cannot be here this morning due to a long-standing constituency engagement, but he sends his apologies and will of course join us later. The Minister of State suggested that the Bill was going to be fun. I know that he had his tongue firmly in his cheek at the time, but these are serious matters—even the areas on which members of the Committee agree, let alone those that are contentious, are extremely serious. The characterisation of the Bill as fun may not hold true, but I hope that we can conduct our affairs in an appropriate way and with respect for each other’s points of view.
I am grateful to the Minister and to the Treasury Bench for having listened to some of our suggestions during the early stages of this process about who should give evidence, particularly the inclusion of Scottish Law Officers to deal with the important issues that relate to the Scottish law system and the way in which that is affected by the legislation. This is an evolving procedure. This is the second Public Bill Committee on which I have sat that has taken evidence and I am not sure that we have all the procedures right at this stage.
There are two matters that I should like to raise today, Mr. Bercow. The first is the matter that I raised on a point of order and I am most grateful for both your response and that of the Minister. Where we have agreed to seek oral evidence and it is not possible simply because the person involved cannot attend our Committee meetings, we should invite that person to provide written evidence as a matter of course. That is common sense and perhaps that could be fed back to the relevant authorities.
My second point is that the evidence sessions for this Committee finish on Thursday evening. The deliberative sessions start on Tuesday morning. Under the rules of the House with the three-day requirement for amendments, any matter that arises out of the evidence that we receive on Thursday afternoon cannot be incorporated in an amendment for the first sitting on Tuesday morning. I do not suggest that anything will necessarily emerge, but it seems to be a flaw in the procedures and the Chair would perhaps need to apply some discretion in allowing a starred amendment were that to happen.
It is obvious why we are not receiving evidence from the secret intelligence community this morning or on Thursday, but having someone from that community to give evidence would be a sensible move, even if it is someone whose experience is not as up to date as perhaps we would wish. Therefore I will support the amendment today. Again this demonstrates the need for perhaps more clarity in our procedures to ensure that where a significant part of a Committee wants to receive evidence from a particular witness they have the opportunity to do so.