Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I support the amendment. During debate on removal of the clause, the Minister made a remark—I hope that he will not repeat it—on the Chief Constable's experience of the board. There is a brand new Chief Constable: I do not know how that remark came about. In terms of life in the Province, strategic points of view, and so on, six months does not warrant comments about experience...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down, perhaps he would say whether he agrees with the reason given: that the Government feel there is simply no chance of such low numbers occurring. Just in case such a situation happened, does he agree that the reason for changing the figure is absolutely wrong and unfounded?
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I thank the noble and learned Lord for giving way. The report refers to the Chief Constable explaining decisions. I accept that that relates to decisions which the Chief Constable has made; decisions that have been taken. But he may be asked for information during an investigation and for the reasons why decisions may be taken in the immediate future. In that respect, we are talking...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I support Amendment No. 10. At the previous stage of the Bill, we asked the noble and learned Lord, Lord Williams of Mostyn, where the proposal had come from and who had asked for it. He said only that it had appeared in the Patten review and in a few other documents. Clearly, if that had been the sole reason for the proposal, the Government would have followed the Patten review in...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I, too, support the amendment. I declare an interest as a member of the Policing Board. However, I stress that my remarks, unless I say otherwise, are as an individual on the board. I support the amendment because "consult" means very different things to different types and groups of people. All too often, when politicians talk about consulting, they mean dictating. In certain...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for giving way. I think that I did not refer to the quality of the training. I was merely putting forward the need for a new policing college. So far as I am aware, I had nothing to say about collaboration. Of course, greater collaboration is needed, but that was not the issue to which I referred. I was not, as a member of the policing board, criticising the...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, does the noble Lord agree that Sinn Fein has not condemned attacks on those people? Although it has said that they are free to join, they apparently may continue being attacked—there are threats on their lives.
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, in declaring an interest as a independent member of the Policing Board for Northern Ireland, I should like to say a little about it. The Government, the Ministers and many others have been singing our praises. Of course we are grateful for that and bathing in the glory of it is quite nice for a change. It is true that we came to unanimous decisions over such issues as uniform,...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I rise to support the amendment. First, I declare an interest. Like my noble friend Lord Kilclooney, I serve on the Policing Board. I serve also on the sub-committee for community affairs, which deals with DPPs. My support for a measure which provides community safety is absolute. There is no question of that. However, I believe that the partnership should be much closer to, or even...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I support my noble friend Lord Maginnis and what the noble Lord, Lord Alton, has said about the Safer Merseyside Partnership. I am sure that he is aware, as I am, that the chairperson of that partnership is a member of the Merseyside Police Authority. The chief constable is also a member. When I come to speak to Amendment No. 91, I shall refer to the question of whether they can be...
Viscount Brookeborough: I rise to support the amendment, but first I must declare an interest. Not only do I live in Northern Ireland, but I have recently become a member of the Northern Ireland policing board. However, my views on arms decommissioning have not changed as a result of that, and anything that I say is not with the authority of any other member of that board. Decommissioning was originally set out to...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, does the Minister not agree that making wind farms radar-friendly to our own aircraft should be purely for training purposes? Is it not more important to put increased resources into radar innovations to enable our Armed Forces to cope with any problems associated with wind farms which are not modified—ours may be modified in the future—in areas where those forces may be on...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, before the Minister finishes, the noble and learned Lord rather dismissed a great deal of what we said about Northern Ireland because he said, "The Chief Constable says 'this' or "that'". I should like to hear him say that he really takes note of what we say and that he believes that what we are saying is not meant to injure him or the Government, but is meant to sustain the police...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I thank the Minister for his explanation of this order. I realise that it is necessary. But sadly, it brings more uncertainty to the running of our police force and, therefore, leads to a reduction in its efficiency. That is for all the reasons given by the noble Lord, Lord Glentoran, and several other noble Lords. I am not talking about local crime in my area, to which, no doubt,...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I believe that everyone present agrees about the disgust we feel for the lack of decommissioning of terrorist weapons. This extension order shows how government policy has failed in this respect. I do not say that in an effort to try to get at the Government: it is a fact that that has failed. I should like to add one point. This decommissioning is only the tip of the iceberg of...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down, he implied that some of us spoke in a totally depressing manner and did not appreciate that any good had come out of the agreement. I think that I speak for all of us who come from Northern Ireland. We all appreciate very much what has come out of it, perhaps more than is realised. However, what we cannot do--dare I say it?--is waste people's time...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I have hunted with harriers, North and South of the Border in Ireland, and several times with fox hounds in England, but I have not hunted since 1970. Suffice to say, we killed very few hares, and I was only ever once close to such an occurrence. It was extremely fast. I am the only speaker who comes from Northern Ireland. I share the opinion of the noble Lord, Lord Patten, about...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Whitaker, for introducing this important debate. I should declare an interest as a patron of RAPID UK--Rescue and Preparedness in Disaster--an NGO charitable organisation. Noble Lords may have heard a RAPID volunteer, John Miller, describing the rescue of a child in India when he returned to Manchester early last weekend. It is well recognised...
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, is the Minister aware that not all delays are necessarily caused or can be rectified by air traffic controllers? Other causes include the military use of airspace, bad weather and handling on the airfield at an airport. Are penalties envisaged in that context?
Viscount Brookeborough: My Lords, I support the amendment. As regards one issue just mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, I accept that we want reintegration in society of people who have recently been released from custody. However, what we are talking about here is those who have been released very recently. We are not just talking about reintegration into the local society so that people help them to adjust....
