Powers of Entry etc. Bill [HL]

My Lords, I join others in congratulating the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, on his commitment and persistence in this important area. The noble Baroness used the word "tenacity"; I say "persistence". Both are meant to be complimentary to the sterling efforts that the noble Lord has made on this issue. I appreciate that he has taken the time and effort to discuss his proposals with the Home Office. He used the term "community of interests". I think that we have a community of interests, which is why we shared with him how we consider we will meet our common objective of increasing public awareness—giving people the knowledge that they have the right to have—and raising public accountability. As has been said, surprise has been expressed in many quarters that we have so many—more than 1,200—rights of entry. However, as noble Lords are aware, each individual power of entry is subject to parliamentary scrutiny. Any proposed new power of entry contained in a Bill or draft statutory instrument must complete the relevant parliamentary process. The noble and learned Lord, Lord Scott, referred to the cluster munitions legislation and the Medicines Act and said that citizens may be accosted and surprised when someone knocks on their door and demands entry when they do not know who the person is and when he has no warrant. We believe that the present position should remain and that each power of entry—here I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee—should be seen in the context of the offence or regulatory breach that it is intended to deal with. Adopting a uniform approach across all agencies would impact on their operational effectiveness and may prevent or reduce achieving the intended aim of the power. Setting down the operational processes in a single statute or laying out a common set of safeguards and protections would mean an inflexible approach. That does not make for good legislation because it would not recognise the wide range of offences or breaches that require a power of entry to ensure effective enforcement of the law. There are problems and difficulties that need to be addressed and the community of interest is how we are seeking to do that. We are proposing that when any new or amending powers of entry are put before Parliament, the sponsoring department must comply with a code of practice that sets out consideration of what I believe meet many of the points raised. First, there is the justification for the powers, proportionality and impact of their use—a point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee. Secondly, there are the rights and safeguards of the owner or occupier of premises, which was referred to by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Scott. Thirdly, there is consideration of the alternatives of using entry powers, which was implicit in many of the contributions. The noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, made the valid point that it was not necessarily the powers of entry but how those powers are implemented by the persons authorised so to do. Fourthly, there are the important issues of guidance, training and the competency of those to whom powers would be granted. That is the best way of tackling the misuse of powers of entry. Fifthly, there is the issue of grievance, which was raised by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, when people think that they have been mistreated. Whether it is a question of rudeness, lack of information or people overstepping the mark, the answer is to have a complaints procedure. Sixthly, there are the reporting and scrutiny mechanisms of the powers, and seventhly, communications and public access to the data. Those seven conditions in the code of practice would require that the information is submitted in template format to Parliament when draft legislation is put before it. The template would be published alongside the Bill or draft statutory instrument. The code of practice would also require draft guidance—a draft copy of the notice of powers and rights and details of training requirements to be published at the same time. We would maintain the central record of entry powers that is currently on the Home Office website. Any new or repealed powers would be added to or deleted from that list. We will shortly be launching a public consultation on how to raise awareness of existing powers and how the public can access their rights and what their expectations should be. Parliament has long recognised the need for powers of entry. The volume of legislation granting such powers illustrates the importance attached to ensuring that laws made by Parliament can be enforced effectively and appropriately. But we need to ensure that part of that effectiveness includes powers that meet operational enforcement requirements and which provide for adequate levels of accountability. We believe that our proposed approach will achieve these important aims. We very much welcome the input of the noble Lord, Lord Selsdon, and others, in the proposed consultation process. Our objective is to have the code of practice template and new communications processes in place by the end of this summer. I turn now to some of the points that were made and on which I wish to provide information. The noble and learned, Lord Scott, raised the question of the need for warrants. One reason why we think that the Bill’s approach might not be the best way forward is that the determination of the need for a warrant is dependent on the reason why entry is required. In a powerful speech that went way beyond my knowledge of medicine and sports law, the noble Lord, Lord Moynihan, made a contribution that I am advised by the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, I should take seriously. I shall, and I will look at it in some detail. As the noble Lord outlined, the trafficking and supply of doping substances are covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act, and that is not a criminal offence at the moment. The introduction of the police into a matter of sporting rules rather than the being breached is difficult. The noble Lord referred to the new anti-doping body, UKAD, and we shall look at the information sharing arrangements between law enforcement and UKAD before running headlong into any criminalisation. The noble Lord’s contribution deserves a rather better response than that, so I shall look at it carefully in Hansard and let him have a more considered response. The noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, asked about consultation with other agencies. We are consulting all agencies because existing powers will have to be scrutinised as well as those that are being introduced as legislation comes before your Lordships’ House. Departments will be asked to set out a timeline when they can provide the information on powers, rights, guidance, training, reporting and scrutiny, which are the questions being asked of all bodies. That scrutiny will then be publicly available through their website. It will be an opportunity for them to review whether they need to have powers of entry, or whether the powers that they already have need to be reduced or changed. That will give us an opportunity to move forward in the spirit of the noble Lord’s proposed legislation. There was a question on whether the schedule was up to date, so I can give noble Lords some statistics. At present, there are 1,208 powers contained in 295 statutes and 286 statutory instruments. To date, there are 1,230 powers contained in 311 statutes and 297 statutory instruments. Since 1997 Parliament has passed 79 Acts and 220 statutory instruments contain references to powers of entry. It is a rather longer process than just the period since this Government came to office. To suggest, as the noble Lord, Lord Skelmersdale, did, that this has been an issue of great significance in the past 12 years perhaps undermines the fact that it has gone on from 1983 onwards when the Mitchell review first identified it. I hope that in setting out the Government’s position I have given heart to all those who are concerned about this issue.