My Lords, I hope that what I say will assuage some of the concerns expressed by noble Lords—through Amendments 109, 113 and 114—about the proposed 28-day period of bail being too short.
In Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, pointed to research conducted by Professor Hucklesby and Professor Zander to justify extending the initial period of pre-charge bail from 28 to 56 days. I point out from the outset that, as part of our reforms, there is a presumption that a suspect who has been arrested will be released without bail—that is, there is a presumption against bail. As the noble Lord, Lord Blair, rightly said, even though he does not agree with the Government’s position, bail has been overused and not used correctly. Over time, there has been a sloppy use of bail, if I may paraphrase what he said. Therefore, in a sense, we start from that position.
In reaching our view, we took full account of the research findings referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Paddick. As I said in Committee, the 28-day period set out in the Bill was not arrived at by chance; we carefully considered the initial period of bail, taking into account the research in drawing up our proposals. We acknowledge that the research concludes that many cases will not be dealt with within 28 days. That is why
the system allows for extensions in such cases, but only where such extensions can be justified. We consider that the involvement of superintendents at this stage would enable them to review the cases under investigation within their force and to chase any cases where required. I stress again that a central feature of these reforms is that there is a presumption that a suspect who has been arrested will be released without bail—where there is no bail, no 28-day or any other limit is in operation.
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I should also say that Professor Hucklesby submitted her research to the Home Office in response to the consultation in 2014-15, and both she and Professor Zander have presented their findings to the PACE strategy board. That group is chaired by a senior official from the Home Office’s Policing Directorate, with members from across the criminal justice system and the statutory PACE consultees, including bodies such as the Law Society and Liberty. I am glad to see the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, a civil libertarian, in her seat.
The noble Baroness, Lady Harris of Richmond, has refined the amendments that she tabled in Committee to enable the setting of time limits up to 28 or 56 days, rather than a fixed period. As will be apparent from government Amendments 110 to 112, we agree that the police should have the flexibility to set an earlier bail return where a charging decision is likely. As the noble Lord, Lord Blair, pointed out, there could be ridiculous consequences of setting a fixed 28-day bail period. The Bill as drafted provides a fixed 28-day bail period, which is then extendable by a superintendent to three months in total, and then further extendable by the courts in further periods of three months.
Following the debate in Committee and our ongoing discussions with the national policing lead, we are aware of the issue of individuals who are currently bailed for only a few days to await the outcome of limited inquiries. Amendments 110 to 112 would confer flexibility on the police in this scenario so that they can set a bail period within the statutory maximum. The police have indicated to us that such a change would have twin benefits, in dealing with such cases more quickly and in offsetting some of the resource implications of these provisions by not needing to bring bail dates forward. These amendments, therefore, deliver the same outcome to that sought by the noble Baroness, Lady Harris, in Amendments 108A, 112A and 113A.
However, I stress to your Lordships that the Government remain firmly of the view that 28 days is the correct initial bail period, with the discretion set out in Amendments 110 to 112 to set an earlier date where appropriate. As I have said before, we accept that the new system will cause additional work for the inspecting and superintending ranks compared to the current position. However, the Government do not look at that extra work as unnecessary administrative work. Historically, the lack of senior, intrusive supervision is one reason why people have been on bail for unnecessary periods, which itself causes additional work for the police to process. The reforms in this part of the Bill
will ensure that pre-charge bail is used appropriately and that investigations are progressed diligently and swiftly. I hope I have provided some reassurance, addressed some of the rightful concerns that noble Lords have raised and shown that the 28-day initial bail period is based on solid evidence.
On HMIC inspections, Amendment 115 seeks to address this issue from another direction. The noble Lord, Lord Paddick, appears to accept the initial 28-day limit on pre-charge bail as a starting point, but argues for a review after two years to be conducted by HMIC. This is a welcome change of approach from the noble Lord, and of course we should keep these provisions under review. However, I argue that we do not need to write it on to the face of the Bill, and I will tell the noble Lord why.
First, as I set out in my letter of 22 November to the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, I am happy to put on the record that we have agreed with HMIC that, as part of its rolling joint programme with the Inspectorate of Prisons to inspect all forces’ custody facilities and processes, it will look at the way that bail reforms work in practice. As they do in other areas, such as the safety of police cells, these inspections will identify any common issues that need addressing, either by forces or by the Government. These inspections will begin as soon as the reforms come into force, as part of HMIC’s recent review of the custody inspection process. Therefore, they have the potential to identify any issues well before the proposed thematic review would begin, two years after implementation.
The second reason why the amendment is unnecessary is that, as the House will be aware, the Government remain committed to the principle of post-legislative scrutiny, where the relevant government department—in this case the Home Office—submits a memorandum on the operation of new legislation to the relevant Select Committee of the House of Commons. That Select Committee will then decide whether to conduct an inquiry. Given the interest in bail shown by the Home Affairs Select Committee over the last two years, together with some of the other subject matter in this Bill, I would be very surprised if the committee did not decide to conduct a review of this legislation. Normally this would be five years after Royal Assent, but it is entirely in the hands of the Home Affairs Select Committee to bring this forward should it wish to do so.
I can also say to the House that we will continue to work closely with the relevant national policing lead so that we can keep the operation of the new arrangements under ongoing review. Should the changes be more burdensome than we expect, we will of course consider what changes, if any, are needed. However, for now, I say to noble Lords that the approach taken in the Bill is well founded and we should proceed with these important reforms on that basis.