My Lords, I will again try to be mercifully brief given that, with one technical exception, I have retabled these amendments from Committee, where they were debated extensively. They are designed to amend operational matters in the legislation. I hope noble Lords will bear with me as they are very technical.
Amendments 4, 5, 6 and 8 to Clause 2 and Amendment 125 to Clause 54 ensure that the commission produces and publishes a work plan for each financial year. This will ensure that the commission has properly considered and planned for its expected caseload in each financial year. The work plan will set out the commission’s engagement strategy and any plans to make policy changes. This will ensure that it has properly considered and planned for its expected caseload.
Amendment 127 is entirely technical in nature. It seeks to change the definition of “reserved provision” in regard to this legislation, reflecting the fact that Section 8(b) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 requires consent to a Bill for an Act, rather than to the Act itself. This will simply tidy up the drafting.
Amendment 130 to Schedule 1 will require the commission to keep accounts, prepare an annual statement of accounts and provide that statement to the Secretary of State and the National Audit Office, which will be under a duty to audit the commission with audits laid in Parliament. Amendment 134 to Schedule 1 deletes a reference to a commissioner having been removed from office on grounds of ill health, as ill health is not a ground for removal from office, as is standard for such posts.
Amendment 135 to Schedule 1 provides a definition for being insolvent in regard to this legislation. Amendments 136 and 143 update the provisions about the application to the commissioners and ICRIR officers of the law relating to the rehabilitation of offenders, which ensures that the Bill reflects the current approach taken in law.
Amendment 144 to Schedule 1 ensures that the commissioner for investigations, who is also an ICRIR officer, falls only within paragraph 14 of Schedule 1, as a commissioner, and not also within paragraph 20 of that schedule as an ICRIR officer. Paragraphs 14 and 20 make equivalent provision to ensure that the prohibitions on trade union activity which govern the police do not apply to the ICRIR, which I am sure noble Lords opposite will welcome.
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Amendment 145 to Schedule 2 avoids overlap with provisions of the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018, which will apply to designated ICRIR officers but is law only in England and Wales. Amendments 162 and 164 deal with the accountability of ICRIR officers. As noted many times, the commissioner for investigations will have the full powers and privileges of a constable and be able to designate other officers with police powers as required. I have tabled a few amendments enabling the commission to enter into bespoke arrangements with relevant oversight bodies regarding arrangements for external oversight of the ICRIR’s use of police powers. This will ensure that those powers are used proportionately.
Finally, I come to Amendments 163, 165 and 166. The Bill as drafted includes consequential amendments giving the ICRIR the power to request communications data directly from UK companies. As I set out in Committee, on further reflection, the Government do not consider it necessary to give the ICRIR access to this power given the nature of legacy investigations. I have therefore retabled amendments to remove such provisions from the Bill.
Telecoms operators are required to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018, meaning they would need a business case justification for retaining communications data from 1998 and before. Therefore, the likelihood of providers holding relevant data for the purposes of the commission’s functions is extremely remote. Removal of this clause will have no impact on the commission’s ability to obtain communications data previously obtained and still held by the relevant authorities using investigatory powers as part of previous investigations. It also does not affect powers which purely flow from ICRIR officers, where designated, having the powers and privileges of constables.
I do not wish to speak for other Members of the House and will respond to amendments tabled by noble Lords in this group when I close.