Police and Justice Bill

My Lords, I feel that I speak for Members on every Bench in this House who have spoken when this matter has come before us in welcoming the changes that have been made—in particular, the commitment not to press ahead with, while keeping under review, the merger of the inspectorates into something that would have proved unworkable, at least for the moment. I am particularly grateful for the Minister’s reassurance that there is no intention for the Secretary of State to interfere in the way in which inspections are conducted. That was a matter of some concern among the inspectorates to which I have spoken. However, I ask the Minister for further reassurance on one point, which was raised by the all-party Joint Committee on Human Rights and by me when this was discussed on previous occasions—regularity of inspection. Frequency of inspection sets the pace and tone of the year for the inspectorate and is the regulating factor for resources. As I mentioned to the Minister, if there were more demands on the inspectorate for other activities—such as inspection of police cells, in the case of the prisons inspectorate—that could affect the resources and the regularity. Therefore, will she guarantee that there is no intention to reduce the current frequency of inspection, which is particularly important at the moment, given that the prison system as a whole is undergoing strains due to overcrowding?