My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 19 and 20. I did not wish to raise this issue again—I apologise to the Minister for doing so—but I had hoped that the Government would have come forward with something a little more substantial than they have done to date. I am slightly confused and disappointed that not all noble Lords had been able to get access to the outline framework document earlier in the debate. I know the Minister intended that they should have access and it was disappointing that the document was not available.
Schedule 2 to the Bill stresses the importance of the framework document and outlines what it does and how it does it. The framework document explains almost everything about the National Crime Agency. It is a far-reaching document, is hugely significant and includes provisions for NCA finance and governance. The goalposts have been moved on more than one occasion since we first discussed this issue. We understood originally that we would have the document by this stage, but then it became only the outline. We are now at Report and all we have is the outline, which is inadequate for scrutiny. The fact that we have so little information about it may have had an impact on the previous decision in this House not to include counterterrorism within the National Crime Agency.
I looked through the document to see how much of an outline it really is. I have already referred to the issues around the NCA management board. The outline framework document basically lists what provisions will be in the framework document, including: that the director-general will establish and chair a management board; a description of the board; the composition of
the board; and that further committees may be established by the board which must include audit and risk and nominations and governance. As for working in partnership, the document contains only a bullet point about the NCA’s use of immigration or customs facilities. As for scrutiny, transparency and information, there are three bullet points: the first is on scrutiny; the second on the duty to publish information in accordance with publication arrangements, which will be set out in an annexe and which we also have not seen; and the third is on public information handling and complaints.
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What comes over from the outline framework document is that the Government are not really clear about what the framework document will contain. It is more than two years since the Government announced the intention to have a National Crime Agency but the details are patchy and there are more questions than answers. I have already pointed out how important we think the agency is and how much we want it to succeed. It is important for the confidence and credibility of the National Crime Agency that there is no question mark over what it does and how it does it by the time the Bill goes to the other place and through Parliament. In Committee, the Minister said:
“It will obviously be a very important document setting out how the NCA is to operate”.—[Official Report, 20/6/12; col. 1782.]
And yet we still have not got it. I find that disappointing.
Given that the framework document is not yet available there may be an opportunity for wider discussion and consultation at this stage. There are two important omissions from the legislation: the role of police and crime commissioners and the role of chief constables. That is why we have said in our amendments that all strategic partners should be included in the consultation. It is either an error or an omission that the Government have not included those.
It is an unsatisfactory position at the moment. It would be helpful to have parliamentary scrutiny of the framework document, given its importance. The Minister has said how important it is, as does the legislation, but we are clearly not going to get it during Report, which on this part of the Bill will finish today. I hope the Minister will tell his colleagues how disappointing this is and undertake to ensure that there is parliamentary scrutiny and proper consultation with all the strategic partners and not only those named in the Bill at present.