Protection of Freedoms Bill

37A: After Clause 41, insert the following new Clause— ““Rewriting powers of entry to address metal theft (1) Section 26 of the Theft Act 1968 (search for stolen goods) is amended as follows— (2) In subsection (1), after ““goods”” insert ““or that admission to a place specified in the information is reasonably required in order to ascertain whether provisions under section 22A(1) are complied with,””. (3) After subsection (1) insert— ““(1A) A warrant granted under subsection (1) for the purposes of ascertaining compliance under section 22A, shall authorise that person to enter that place at any time within one month from the date of the warrant.”” (4) After section 22 insert— ““22A Handling of stolen metal (1) Subject to the provisions of section 26, any constable shall have a right at all reasonable times— (a) to enter and inspect any place for the time being a place which is occupied by a scrap metal dealer wholly or partly for the purposes of such business, or any place which he reasonably believes is occupied for such a purpose, irrespective of whether or not it is entered on the register; (b) to require production for inspection, of any scrap metal kept at that place and any record which the dealer has in his or her possession. (2) A magistrate may grant, on application by a senior police officer, a closure order or, where such an order has already been granted, an application to extend a closure order in relation to a place, subject to the following conditions— (a) the senior officer reasonably believes that the trader is encouraging, supporting or facilitating the trade in stolen metal whether knowingly or not, and (b) in his or her view such closure is necessary for the prevention of theft or handling of stolen goods or for the further investigation of those offences. (3) For the purposes of this section a person shall be deemed as carrying on business as a scrap metal dealer if— (a) a place in that area is occupied by him or her as a scrap metal store, or (b) no place is occupied by him or her as a scrap metal store, whether in that area or elsewhere, but he or she has his or her usual place of residence in that area, or (c) a place in that area is occupied by him or her wholly or partly for the purposes of that business.””””