Counter-Terrorism Bill

My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, has said, and as I made clear in Committee, the Lord Advocate has confirmed that she intends to issue guidelines on post-charge questioning and that they will be similar to those that the Lord Advocate issued on detention, treatment and questioning of persons arrested under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. These were issued despite there being no statutory requirement to do so. We have made a legislative requirement that codes of practice must make provision regarding post-charge questioning in England and Wales and Northern Ireland because in these jurisdictions codes of practice are a statutory requirement—for example, in England and Wales, under Section 66 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. As for why that should not be the case in Scotland, the answer is that Scotland is different. It is not the case in Scotland, and it is a matter for the Lord Advocate to determine whether it is appropriate or necessary to issue guidelines. We therefore do not believe that a statutory requirement would be helpful or appropriate, and the Lord Advocate supports us in this view.