Private Security Industry Act 2001 (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2009

I, too, thank the Minister for introducing these orders. Policing the private security industry can be very problematic, particularly given the special circumstances of Northern Ireland. Indeed, in the murkier parts of the industry it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between protection rackets on the one hand and legitimate security activities on the other—hence the need for these orders. I should like to ask the Minister about some of the recommendations of the report from the Northern Ireland Assembly. Although I recognise that none of the Assembly’s recommendations required a change to the orders, we hope that the Minister can say something about the Government’s response to those recommendations. In addition, is she satisfied that the SIA will be able to cope with the additional workload that will come as a result of the extension to Northern Ireland? Will there be any additional short-term funding to help the SIA as it expands its activities? Do the Government still intend to press ahead with implementation in December, as I think the Minister confirmed? As we know, the Assembly report recommended slowing down the process of extending to Northern Ireland the scheme that exists here. It would be helpful to know of any further discussions that have taken place in relation to this matter. Again, that is particularly important given the Assembly’s concern in relation to the costs of the scheme. One major concern of the Assembly committee was the high cost—£245—of obtaining a licence for door staff compared with current local arrangements, which cost around £30. However, the report states: ""Time constraints do not allow the Committee to enter into an investigation into the differences. But differences there are and we feel that it is unwise to make decisions on the basis of such disputed information and that this argues further for a slow down in decision making until a fuller consideration of these issues has taken place. ‘Costs’ are an extremely important consideration for all of the stakeholders.""The Committee in the timescale available has not been able to make a judgment on whether the local schemes are comparable in terms of quality with the SIA delivered arrangements. More importantly we do not have reliable evidence on the comparable effectiveness and value-for-money of the main competing options and on which is of best value to the public purse"." Given the concern expressed by the Assembly committee with regard to costs—an issue that is particularly important to businesses in the current economic situation—will the Government consider a delay in the implementation of the scheme to allow the Assembly to investigate this matter fully? My final point relates to the Assembly’s concern that it did not have sufficient time to scrutinise the order in as much detail as it would have liked. Will the Minister give consideration to extending the length of time for orders to be scrutinised or, given that the Assembly’s recesses do not always coincide with those of Parliament, will she give a commitment to amend Section 85 of the Northern Ireland Act to qualify that the 60-day period does not include days when the Assembly is not sitting?