My Lords, before I move my amendments, some of which are also in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Blair, I remind your Lordships of my policing interests, which are addressed in the register. Through these amendments —108A, 108B, 109, 112A, 112B, 113, 113A, 113B and 114—which all address the same issue, I seek to encourage the Government to accept the arguments put forward in Committee to extend the time limit for the duration of bail from 28 days to not exceeding 56 days.
The Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales, through its vice-president, Chief Super- intendent Paul Griffiths, has persuaded me that its professional opinion and that of the College of Policing and, without doubt, the academic work undertaken by professors Hucklesby and Zander, ought properly to be taken into account in this matter. Notwithstanding the helpful, but discouraging, letter from the Minister, for which I thank her, I believe that their concerns are rather more convincing than those of a senior civil servant in her department, however well intentioned.
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The police service is concerned with the period of up to 28 days for the first bail period. The bail pilot conducted by the College of Policing identifies that the average bail length is 53 days. The aforementioned professors, experts in this field, have both suggested a longer first bail period to avoid considerable adverse impact on a number of players within the system such as victims, suspects, legal representatives et cetera. The police service itself is united on this issue—a most unusual event in my opinion—between the employers and the staff associations. So I respectfully suggest that these are important amendments for your Lordships to consider.
The service welcomes the intention of the Bill relating to pre-charge bail to reduce the number of people subject to bail; the presumption of release without charge; and the placement of greater oversight and scrutiny. Its main concern is solely what it believes will be an adverse effect on the people I mentioned previously if the Bill imposes a 28-day review period when the evidence supports a period of up to 56 days. If the time is extended, inspectors can make an informed decision on any bail period based on the additional investigative work that may be required—for instance, service-level agreements with third-party forensic and digital providers—which is outside the control of the police service and which can regularly take more than six weeks to complete.
However, if the amendment is accepted, and the inspector believes that any further investigative work can be completed more quickly than the allotted time, they could reduce the period of time for those not requiring the 56 days. At the moment, this cannot happen and it means that suspects and their legal representatives will be needlessly attending police stations to be rebailed, this time by a superintendent. The Government say that 29% of bail cases can be resolved in 28 days—which is to be commended, and the amendment still allows that—based on the decision of the inspector. However, that still leaves 71% of bail cases which will need further rebailing beyond the 28-day period. All that can be foreseen during the initial arrest and custody case.
I realise that it is now unfashionable to take the merits of a case on experts’ advice, but I urge the Government to look again at this because the pilot run by the College of Policing has indeed found the flaw in the argument as it interprets newer and more accurate information about bail duration. The vast majority of cases could be resolved within the 56 days I recommend. This would improve the efficiency of the system for victims, suspects and legal representatives, criminal justice agencies and, of course, the police themselves.
If the Government’s proposals in the Bill are accepted, what will happen is that, for example, a person is arrested for an offence for which there is insufficient evidence to charge at that stage. An inspector makes a decision that it is necessary and proportionate to place the suspect on bail. The inspector must then bail the suspect for exactly 28 days. On the 28th day, the suspect will return to the police station and can then be further bailed for a maximum of three months from
the time of arrest on the authority of a superintendent. The superintendent must be satisfied that this is both necessary and proportionate.
This means that an inspector cannot make a decision to reduce the period of bail if, for example, the investigating officer requires only seven days to make further inquiries. Further, an inspector cannot make a decision to bail an individual for a period exceeding 28 days, despite knowing that forensic or digital analysis will take six weeks until evidence from third parties can be provided. So what I seek from the Government is the flexibility within these amendments.
At this point I must apologise to your Lordships for missing another reference in the Bill to 28 days, which should have been included in my later amendments. It appears on page 78, line 35. It is highly likely that I may have missed other crucial references to the same time period, which comes from not reading the Bill as thoroughly as I ought to have done. I hope that noble Lords will accept my apologies; it is a rather large Bill. I beg to move.