Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

I should like to discuss the 10th report of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which I chair. The report is one of the relevant documents in this debate, and as we have had a wide-ranging debate, it is important that we focus on the motion. The Committee is in full agreement with the Government about the positive obligation of human rights law to take effective steps to protect the public from the real threat of terrorism, and the need to keep measures under review to ensure that the authorities are properly equipped, both legally and physically, to respond to the threat and to ensure that measures taken are not incompatible with human rights in the light of experience. If the measures are incompatible, that will ultimately become counter-productive. The Committee agrees with the Government that the control order regime is the second best option to prosecution—I think that there is a general consensus about that. It is also clear that control orders, in some form, will be needed for the foreseeable future. We need to examine them in detail in the light of experience and court judgments to see what changes to the regime are needed. Our recommendations fall into four broad categories: the need for better parliamentary scrutiny; the need to look at the obligations and restrictions contained in the control orders; the need for due process; and, last but not least, the need for an exit strategy. I shall deal first with parliamentary scrutiny. Lord Carlile's report was published only three days ago. I do not blame the Home Office on this occasion, but inevitably our report could therefore only be published yesterday to inform today's debate. According to statute, Lord Carlile's report should have been prepared as soon as practicable after 10 December 2007—the date of the previous quarterly review. The way that this situation has occurred year after year frustrates the scrutiny provisions set out in section 14 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005. It prompts a question, because very similar terms on the parliamentary review of pre-charge detention are provided for in the Counter-Terrorism Bill. The issue needs to be examined. My Committee recommends that we should have the report at least a month ahead, to enable us to produce our findings on it and to inform debate more effectively. We also think it is important that the reviewer should be appointed by and report directly to Parliament, and that the Secretary of State should produce an annual report to Parliament.