Private Security Industry Act 2001 (Amendments to Schedule 2) Order 2006

My Lords, I am thinking of Section 40 of the 2006 Act, which allows these officers not only to detain an individual for a period which is as short as reasonably necessary but does not exceed three hours; to take the person to a place for the purpose of delivering him to an immigration officer; to use reasonable force for the purpose of doing anything under previous paragraphs; and to conduct searches of a person so detained. All that is in Section 40 of the 2006 Act. We had quite a lot of discussion of that when the then Bill was in Grand Committee and we expressed grave concern about the extension of those powers, especially, as I said, as they relate to the juxtaposed controls at the French ports and the possibility they will be used on children. We had assurances about the Children's Commissioner overseeing how the powers were being used. I must therefore insist that there were considerable extensions of these officers’ powers. I would like very much to know whether they are covered by this order.