My Lords, I declare my interest as the police and crime commissioner for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland and say in passing what a pleasure it was to host the Minister in Leicestershire the other day. I know that this matter was briefly raised with her, but neither I nor the chief constable talked about it for long. It was a great pleasure to have her there, and her visit went down very well.
There is a need to reform the present system of pre-charge bail. We all know of cases—of course, none in Leicestershire that I know of—where individuals, to put it mildly, have been carelessly treated by the present system. I personally know of one recent case where the delay has been truly shocking. However, the more the principle is right, the more vital it is that the practical way of putting it into effect is correct too. It is important that the change should work, without causing serious difficulties—the kind of difficulties that both the noble Baroness, Lady Harris and the noble Lord, Lord Blair, mentioned—and unnecessary disruption for the police.
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Certainly in Leicestershire, and I am sure that this is true around the country, there are far fewer senior officers now—that is, in the role of superintendent and above—than there were a few years ago. Of course, the amount of work they have to do is no less; may well be more. I respectfully ask whether the Government have thought through how this will work in practice. That is the issue. My fear is that even though there is quite an easy way in which this important reform could be a success and a feather in the cap of the Government, who have brought it forward, in practice it will cause a lot of problems, and we will not have to wait two years to find that out. I cannot guess whether those issues will become public, but the reality is that it would be unnecessary increased pressure on police forces, taking senior officers’ time away from their vital work.
I end by repeating that I support absolutely the amendment that the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, moved so well. I cannot speak for the College of Policing or for other forces, but I can speak for the force for which I have the privilege of being police and crime commissioner and which I work alongside. Its view is exactly as has been described: although reform
is necessary, the way it will be put into practice if it stays as it is in the Bill is unfortunate and will cause a lot of extra and unnecessary work. I therefore support the amendment.