Serious Crime Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 101B: 101B: Clause 49, page 29, line 17, after ““General”” insert ““or such a person as he nominates to discharge his functions under this section”” The noble Lord said: This is another probing amendment that would enable the Attorney-General to nominate someone else to discharge his functions under Clause 49. The clause sets out that where the jurisdiction does not fall within Clause 48 and therefore comes within the remit of Schedule 4—the extraterritorial schedule—the Attorney-General must give his consent to a prosecution in England and Wales. The aim of the amendment is to enable a wider debate about the growth of international crime as well as to allow the Minister to inform us what assessment the Government have made of the number of cases a year they expect to fall under the extraterritorial provisions. I hope the Minister will outline just how those provisions fit within the current unequal extradition agreement with the United States and the EU forum arrangements. I beg to move.