Clause 31

Part of Terrorist Asset-Freezing Etc. Bill [Lords] – in a Public Bill Committee at 12:15 pm on 23 November 2010.

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Photo of Tom Brake Tom Brake Liberal Democrat, Carshalton and Wallington 12:15, 23 November 2010

Hon. Members may be pleased to hear that this is the final batch of amendments that the Joint Committee on Human Rights thought that we should discuss and requires airing in today’s Committee. The amendments pertain to parliamentary accountability. I suppose I need to bear in mind what I just said about ensuring that we do not adopt an ad hoc approach to legislation, but the purpose of the amendments is to ensure that there is greater parliamentary oversight of the role of the independent reviewer of the asset-freezing regime, so that it would become a clear responsibility of Parliament to monitor the independent reviewer’s activities, and that Parliament, rather than the Treasury, should receive reports about the work of the independent reviewer. The amendments would ensure that there was parliamentary confirmation of the appointment of the independent reviewer by the Treasury, that there would be reporting by the independent reviewer directly to Parliament and not to the Treasury, and finally, that there would be a single, non-renewable term of appointment of five years.

The amendments would achieve those aims if the Government were minded to adopt them. I will listen carefully to the Minister’s response. I think there is an important point made by the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the role of Parliament, as opposed to the Treasury, regarding the independent reviewer. However, I am aware that a different approach has been adopted in other areas of counter-terrorism legislation, so it is something that we may need to bundle up into the counter-terrorism review and perhaps come forward with alternative proposals.