Police and Justice Bill

I would be delighted to be satisfied by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, but I regret that on this occasion I cannot accept her offer. Neither can I be seduced into accepting the offer made by the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia. Amendments Nos. 86 and 87 both relate to time limits. Bail in the context of street bail and pre-charge bail is used respectively to prevent the need to bring a person immediately into custody or to enable the release of a suspect from custody while allowing the police to continue with their investigation. Attaching conditions is about raising the ability and confidence of the police to release people from custody for a period sufficient to enable the necessary further inquiries to be completed. I appreciate that the amendments reflect your Lordships’ rightful concern that bail conditions issued by the police rather than court may be seen as an arbitrary use of powers. That is why, in the case of street bail, we have made provisions which allow a person the right of appeal to a custody officer in the first instance and then to a magistrate. In the case of pre-charge bail, the person is entitled to appeal to the magistrate. That right will be made clear to the person at the time at which the bail is granted and conditions imposed, and a written notice of these rights will also be provided. The police focus must be on progressing cases and determining whether there is sufficient evidence to refer matters to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision. The application of conditions must be proportionate and stand up to scrutiny. The period for which conditions apply must be relevant to the progress of the investigation. I can see little benefit in applying an arbitrary time limit to the lifetime of bail conditions, although I understand and endorse what my right honourable friend said in the other place in relation to the normal expectation, which might be for that time, but we want to do things as expeditiously as possible and not bring people back unnecessarily early if that would be for no good purpose. We would simply have to bail them again to a time when the investigation was complete. I respectfully say to both the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, and the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, that it would be preferable if the officer had discretion to enable a person to be released on bail either with or without conditions rather than holding the person in custody when they can quite safely be released. Placing an imposed time would in effect result in the officer having suspects return to or enter custody at a time when there may be no real prospect of the investigation being proceeded with sufficiently, or when the decision can be made on whether or not to proceed. The point is, if one likes, to reverse the current burden where people are overcautious and therefore engage the individual in the court process when that is not absolutely necessary. We have to be balanced in our approach and ensure that those who go through the process are people who are identified as properly needing to be there. That will give greater confidence to people that proportionality is appropriate. As I said in relation to the other amendment, in cases where there is ambiguity or things are on the cusp, we can anticipate that the police will revert to type. We are all recidivists; we go back to the safe position, and the safe position is not to grant bail. Home Office circular 61/2003 sets a maximum period of six weeks for answering bail, save in exceptional circumstances. We consider that retaining that operational flexibility will benefit both the investigators and avoid bringing people back unnecessarily. I am very grateful for the noble Baroness’s indication that the amendment is merely probing.