Viscount Bridgeman: Following on from the previous debate where we discussed the uncertainty over the future number and make-up of members, Amendment 9 seeks to highlight uncertainty about the future functions of the panel. Although we welcome the creation of a body capable of driving through the changes necessary to ensure proper career development within the police force, and hope that the advisory functions...
Viscount Bridgeman: The noble Baroness, Lady Henig, has made a constructive speech and, while disagreeing with the change from non-statutory to statutory, she has produced some constructive amendments. She has raised several points about the panel—in particular, the role that the Secretary of State will play in the appointments process—and about the ongoing development of the panel. A shake-up is clearly...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, the hour is getting on and I shall not detain your Lordships too long. This has been a very interesting debate. I thank the Minister for his very comprehensive introduction to the Bill, and, indeed, all noble Lords who have made such meaningful contributions. As my noble friend Lady Hanham indicated, I shall concentrate my remarks on Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill, but I am afraid that I...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, will those examining the matter have regard to the practice in the Scottish Parliament whereby, in the parallel case of DNA retention, the length of time of retention is geared to the degree of the offence?
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, may I remind the Minister that the Government in their reply in 2004 to the report of the Procedure Committee in another place on the sessional order indicated that legislation would be introduced to strengthen police powers in relation to assemblies in Parliament Square? Five years later all we have are provisions in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, which by common...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I thank the noble Lord, Lord West, for repeating the Statement and making early copies of it available to the House. This Statement is most welcome, most of all to the Gurkhas, some of whom are outside the House now. This has been a great victory for a well-run campaign that has publicly embarrassed Ministers. It has also reminded all of us of the role that the Gurkhas have played...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, does the Minister not agree that the effectiveness of any e-Borders system for the United Kingdom will inevitably be compromised until we have a properly constituted and unified border police force? We on this side of the House have been consistently pressing for this, particularly since the publication of the report of the noble Lord, Lord Stevens, which concludes that only a...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I join the noble Baroness the Lord President and other noble Lords in sending our deepest sympathies to the families and friends of Sapper Patrick Azimkar and Sapper Mark Quinsey, and to those injured in this most cowardly of attacks. The murdered men were about to travel to Afghanistan to serve their country and to support the Afghan people. The awful events of the weekend remind...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I am again grateful to the Lord President for explaining this order. As she said, it relates to a tightly defined category of community halls, which I understand includes not only halls used by one of the two main communities in Northern Ireland, but facilities used by youth groups and ethnic minorities. The Lord President gave us examples. This order provides an easier route for...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I am very grateful to the noble Baroness for her detailed explanation of the orders. I also thank her for making her officials available at short notice this afternoon to brief me and my team. We found that very useful. I can say at the outset that it is not our intention from these Benches to oppose these orders. Indeed, in so far as they can be said to represent a normalisation of...
Viscount Bridgeman: I support the amendment in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Shutt. The Government's utterances on identity checks at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic have been unclear. In truth, that reflects either muddled thinking by the Government or a reluctance to come clean about what they are planning. The Government have said that there will be no question of establishing...
Viscount Bridgeman: I thank the Minister for his reply, having given him the opportunity to make it, but the sentiments that I expressed at the end of the debate on the previous group of amendments still apply. We shall look carefully at how these organisational arrangements within the UKBA turn out. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 19 withdrawn.
Viscount Bridgeman: I shall speak also to Amendment 17. These amendments are designed to probe what customs and revenue jurisdiction it is intended will be transferred to the Secretary of State and why, and to consider how the jurisdictions of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise and the Secretary of State will interrelate. Does "concurrently" mean in tandem with or alongside? In other words, will there be a...
Viscount Bridgeman: I am grateful to the Minister for that explanation. The internal organisation of UKBA is one thing that I hope will be more apparent at the end of the Committee stage. In the mean time, I beg to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 16 withdrawn. Amendments 17 and 18 not moved. Clause 7 agreed. Clause 8 agreed. Clause 9: Delegation of Director's functions Amendment 19 Moved by Viscount Bridgeman...
Viscount Bridgeman: This amendment would limit the powers of the Director of Border Revenue to delegate functions to those conferred under the Bill. It also probes which other functions it is intended to confer on the director. Again, we are wary of handing out powers that have yet to be defined or drafted, let alone presented to us, and would like to see an express limit on the delegation of the director's...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, this has been a long and interesting debate, and it is a privilege to speak at the end of it. It should come as no surprise to the Minister that we have had such a wide-ranging debate, for noble Lords who have spoken today bring impressive expertise to bear on the matter. If, as the Minister has promised us, we can look for a simplification Bill towards the end of this Session, I...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I am grateful for your Lordships' indulgence in permitting me to speak in the gap. CORESS is a private initiative that is shortly, I hope, to become a charity. It was originally conceived by a group of surgeons who are or have been aviators, and is modelled on a successful and well established body in the aviation industry. Its purpose is to receive entirely anonymous reports from...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I am sure that noble Lords agree that this debate has been in the highest traditions of this House, with an impressive spread of views, all sincerely held. My noble friend Lord Waddington gave the House an impressive account of my party's attitude to this problem, which has been absolutely consistent since the declassification of cannabis to class C in 2004; that is, total...
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, in addition to the database proposed for mobile phones and internet records, since 1997, how many databases have been established to hold information on citizens of this country, of which they are unaware?
Viscount Bridgeman: My Lords, I welcome the noble Lord, Lord Brett, to the first debate to which he will respond from the Dispatch Box. The whole House will be grateful for this well researched report in which the committee makes constructive recommendations. We particularly thank the noble Lord, Lord Broers. Your Lordships will be well aware that in 2007 nearly two households in three had the internet and 53...
