Criminal Justice Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 7:45 pm on 30 June 2003.

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Photo of Baroness Scotland of Asthal Baroness Scotland of Asthal Minister of State, Home Office, Minister of State (Home Office) (Criminal Justice and Offender Management) 7:45, 30 June 2003

Of course there is scope in relation to bail because all such matters will be interlocking. If these offences fall within that small category of cases in which the superintendent believes that bail is not appropriate at that moment because of the nature of the investigation, one would need the extension and one would not grant bail. If noble Lords look at the other provisions that we are introducing, they will appreciate that we are very much trying to encourage throughout the whole process the granting of bail wherever possible and allowing the person who is subject to arrest to come back to the police station to be interviewed. One sees that in our approach to street bail and giving prosecutors and those responsible for the investigation the ability to grant bail. We are talking about a species of case in which bail may not be appropriate in those circumstances and more time is needed in order to get the sort of investigation that will bring the matter to a speedy conclusion; the clock is ticking against the individual in that context. We should expect bail to be granted in all those cases in which it was appropriate and the person could come back and continue it. We would not expect that in those cases the superintendent would say that an extension of detention was necessary because they could say that the person could go and return on another day and that the investigation could be continued. That is the flexibility that we seek. However, that does not take away from the general thrust of our approach: wherever possible, bail should obviously be granted if it is appropriate to the circumstances.