Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

I wish to make a couple of points about the report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights on the renewal of the order last year. The Committee expressed a number of concerns to which the Government have responded. It is unfortunate that we should have to debate renewal without the benefit of a further report from the Joint Committee. Lord Carlile’s report was published on 19 February, and we are debating the order on 22 February, so the House should accept that it is difficult for a Select Committee, however assiduous, to produce a report within that period. I hope, however, that a report will be produced in time for the debate in the House of Lords on 5 March. I would be grateful if the Minister confirmed that Lord Carlile’s report was published as soon as he received it. Is it possible to ensure that the scrutiny provisions in the House work? Do we need to hold the debate on 22 February instead of giving time to the Committee that is most closely associated with the matter—clearly, however, it is not the only one—to do its valuable work? Indeed, the Government themselves have acknowledged the value of that work, and responded in the 24th report of the last Session to the 12th report, which dealt with the renewal of control orders. The Joint Committee has produced a further report, ““Counter-Terrorism Policy and Human Rights: Prosecution and Pre-Charge Detention””, which identifies how we can overcome obstacles to prosecution and provides alternatives to non-jail detention. It supports the points made by my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. Clegg) about the use of intercept evidence and overcoming other obstacles to prosecution, and it strengthens arguments against the renewal of control orders in the Joint Committee’s previous report. Alternatives have been canvassed and examined in detail, and important judicial decisions have been made.