Police and Justice Bill

I agree with the noble Lord. There is nothing wrong with the inspectorate taking advice from a wide range of professionals and looking at other views, but to prescribe in the Bill that the inspector: "““In exercising his functions…involve individuals nominated by persons he considers to represent the interests of police authorities””," is unnecessarily inflexible and could, in certain circumstances, interfere with the independence of the inspectorate. As I explained, we do not rule out the involvement of those with knowledge and expertise of the work of police authorities—