Clause 58
Policing and Crime Bill
5:00 pm
James Brokenshire (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Hornchurch, Conservative)
The Minister’s comments on the amendments are helpful. He will know that Liberty expressed concerns about why the clause was necessary and the proportionality of the provisions. His suggestion to clarify and restrict the ambit of the clause is helpful in addressing some of those issues.
It would be helpful for the Minister to address one further point. It is worth putting the concerns of Justice on the record. It states:
“A warrant can be transmitted electronically pursuant to section 204, thereby instantaneously and with the introduction of SISII, this will be the normal means of transmission. We consider it inconceivable that any scenario could justify an arrest without warrant, on reasonable belief that a warrant will arrive rather than an offence having been committed, and remand for 96 hours.”
Justice suggests that it should be more instantaneous. The Minister has explained that circumstances may arise that fall outside Justice’s concern that the instantaneous electronic transmission of warrants might lead to situations where documentation is awaited. It would be helpful to consider that. Any further clarification that the Minister can provide on Justice’s concerns over the additional time would be welcome.
If there is an increase in the speed of transmission through the Schengen information system or other forms of electronic transmission of appropriate documentation, it would be appropriate to make it clear that in one way we are moving in one direction and in another way we are moving in another.