Counter-Terrorism Bill

moved Amendment No. 27: 27: Clause 26, page 19, leave out line 30 The noble Lord said: My Lords, the House will recall that the Bill included an order-making power which allowed the Secretary of State to disapply the compulsory requirement for post-charge questioning to be video recorded with sound, which caused some amusement at the time. The power had been included because there are police stations in some parts of the United Kingdom which do not have the facility to video record interviews with sound. The inclusion of this order-making power raised concerns at the previous stage and the Government concede that that power should be removed. That is the effect of the amendment. All post-charge questioning under these provisions will now be video recorded with sound in all parts of the United Kingdom. The effect of the amendment will be to prevent post-charge questioning in certain police stations until the necessary facilities are available. We do not anticipate that this will be a significant problem as a suspect could be transferred for questioning to a police station which does have the facilities, and in time these facilities will be available in other police stations. I beg to move.