Clause 46
Counter-Terrorism Bill
11:45 am
Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Security, Counter-terrorism, Crime and Policing), Home Office; Harrow East, Labour)
That part of the hon. Gentleman’s comments is perfectly fair, but it is incumbent on the individual—having previously been under a notification requirement—to understand fully where that requirement picks up again once he is released from custody. It is a bit two-way but I take the point none the less.
In terms of the hon. Gentleman’s first point, I say simply that we are getting there. The one thing I have discovered, having been tangential to—but never responsible for—prisons and the interface between prisons and criminal justice, is the enormous churn of numbers on a daily basis. It is quite phenomenal when explored in any detail—those on short term and those being moved from security to open prisons as a prelude to release. The hon. Gentleman is right; any normal person would expect that everyone in the entire system knows when someone is released, but sometimes there is more than one link-up to make in that regard.
There are also responsibilities on the individual, however, bearing in mind that they are already under a notification requirement and, for whatever reason, are now detained in prison or custody. They should know precisely when they should pick up and notify again in terms of the register regime. Between the individual and the criminal justice system, it is to be hoped that sanity will prevail.