Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Bill

My Lords, I beg to move Amendment 8, in my name. In doing so, I shall speak to Amendments 13, 30, 31, 45, 46, 47 and 48, all of which are in my name. Also in this group, I will touch upon Amendment 14, in the name of my noble friend Lady Hamwee, which is an amendment to my Amendment 13. These are a number of necessary technical amendments to the Bill. I hope that some noble Lords will have had the opportunity to read the letter that I sent last week explaining what each amendment achieves. However, for the benefit of the House and for the record, I should briefly explain why we need to make these amendments. I shall start with Amendments 8 and 13. These amendments make two small but important changes to clarify the drafting of the residence and police reporting measures. The residence measure is intended to ensure that the individual can be required to reside at a specified address, and to remain there for specified periods overnight. The clear purpose of this is to manage risk. As part of this measure it may be necessary to require the individual to remain within the residence itself. This means that it could be necessary to prohibit them from entering any garden or outside area forming part of the property, or any communal areas in a shared property. As currently drafted, the provision does not necessarily make clear that the measure can be applied in this way. It is potentially ambiguous as to whether the requirement to remain at the residence includes any outside or communal areas. Therefore, it may be open to legal challenge on its meanings. Amendment 8 is, therefore, essentially a drafting amendment to remove this uncertainty and make clear the policy intentions. It will put beyond doubt that the individual may be required to remain within the residence—that is, essentially, behind their front door during the specified overnight period. I should make clear that where individuals are confined to their residence and electronically monitored in other contexts, they will normally be required to remain in the house or flat and will not be allowed out into their garden. The particular requirements imposed by the Secretary of State in each case must always be necessary and proportionate. The court will subsequently consider the proportionality of each measure as part of its review of the notice. Amendment 13 relates to the police reporting measure and makes clear that, in addition to requiring the individual to report to a police station at specified times and in a specified manner, the Secretary of State may require him to comply with directions given by the police in relation to such reporting. This is necessary to ensure that the individual can be required to co-operate with the practicalities of reporting—for example, requiring him to report to the front desk of a police station, speak to the officer there and sign to confirm his attendance. This has always been the intention behind this measure and is the current practice in relation to control orders. It is necessary to ensure that the provision reflects the reality of how the measure will operate. It is also in line with the general procedures for individuals required to report to a police station for any reason—for example, individuals on police or court bail. My noble friend’s Amendment 14 would amend Amendment 13 to specify that any directions given by a police officer must be consistent with the requirements imposed by the Secretary of State under the police reporting measure. I can say to my noble friend that the amendment is unnecessary. The police will legitimately be able to give only directions consistent with the overarching requirements imposed by the Secretary of State. Such directions must be reasonable. If a police officer gives unreasonable directions, the individual will be able to draw the Secretary of State’s attention to the matter and/or challenge this in the courts. In any event, there is no advantage in the police giving directions that are inconsistent with what has been specified by the Secretary of State. The provision is to ease the process of reporting at the police station. As I have already outlined, it would be used to provide more detailed requirements, such as signing a particular document. Amendments 30 and 31 make a small but necessary change to Clause 8. The clause provides that the court must, when granting permission to impose a TPIM notice at the outset of the process, give directions for a directions hearing in relation to the automatic full review of the case. As the Bill is currently drafted, this directions hearing must take place within seven days of the TPIM notice being served, unless the individual agrees to postpone it. The programming of such hearings is a matter for the courts. It has become clear that the current drafting of the provision has unintentionally introduced a restriction on the discretion currently available to the courts to manage similar hearings in the control order context. We have therefore been asked by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service to make a change to the Bill to provide flexibility in this respect for the courts to facilitate effective management of court time. Amendment 30 amends Clause 8 so that the court may programme the directions hearing later than seven days after service of the TPIM notice if it so directs. Clause 8(6) still provides that directions given at that hearing must provide for the substantive review hearing, "““to be held as soon as reasonably practicable””." Amendments 45 and 46 are essential technical amendments and do not reflect a change in the policy behind this Bill. Rather, they are necessary in consequence of changes to other legislation currently before the House. Section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, which has not been commenced, increases the maximum sentence on summary conviction in England and Wales from six months to 12 months. When the TPIM Bill was drafted, the intention was that this provision would be repealed by the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. Because of this, Clause 23 provides that the maximum sentence on summary conviction for contravening a measure specified in a TPIM notice is six months. However, Section 154(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 will not now be repealed. On that basis, these amendments are needed to revert to the previous practice when legislating in relation to offences tried summarily. They provide for a maximum 12-month term in England and Wales, but include a transitional provision limiting the sentencing power to six months, pending commencement of Section 154(1) of the 2003 Act. The final changes, Amendments 47 and 48, are technical amendments to Clause 26. The first returns to a matter helpfully raised in the amendment tabled at Committee by my noble friend Lady Hamwee. The noble Baroness’s amendment would have deleted Clause 26(11)(a), which makes a provision allowing a temporary enhanced TPIM order to amend any enactment. The subsection of the clause was drafted on the basis that the temporary enhanced TPIM order would need to amend other legislation to ensure that the enhanced TPIM system would function correctly. I undertook to consider the point further and, having done so, have concluded that the subsection is not necessary for this purpose. I am therefore pleased to bring forward government Amendment 47, which will remove paragraph (a), and I thank the noble Baroness for her suggestion in this respect. Amendment 48 is necessary to ensure that the order-making power does not inappropriately impinge on devolved matters in Scotland. The amendment provides that a temporary enhanced TPIM order may not make any provision relating to devolved matters in Scotland other than those already contained in the TPIM Bill without the consent of the Scottish Government. I beg to move.