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Police And Justice Bill Receives Royal Assent

8 November 2006

The Police and Justice Bill received Royal Assent today, placing on the statute books important measures that will improve the safety of our communities.

The Bill drives forward key strands of the Government’s police reform programme and creates the provisions to implement parts of the Respect Action Plan.
 
Policing Minister Tony McNulty, said:
 
“More than ever before we need our police service to be able to work efficiently and effectively, capable of tackling organised crime and terrorism while providing neighbourhood policing that is visible, responsive and accountable.
 
"The Police and Justice Bill provides the police with precisely the tools they need to meet these challenges and work with other agencies to make our communities safer - and I am delighted that it has today received Royal Assent.
 
"Giving Community Support Ofiicers and other agencies the powers they need to respond to anti-social behaviour, low-level crime and truancy forms a central part of the measures outlined in this legislation and will play a key role in our ongoing work to safeguard our communities and neighbourhoods. At a national level, the new police powers this Bill provides are essential in countering the very real threat we face from terrorism and organised crime."

The Bill will empower the police and improve performance by: 

• establishing a National Policing Improvement Agency;
• creating a set of standard powers for Community Support Officers (CSOs) in all areas;
• amending the powers for the Home Secretary to intervene directly in poorly performing forces;
• making changes to the make-up and functions of police authorities;
• giving police the power to capture passenger and crew data on journeys within the UK;
• giving police powers to stop and search people and vehicles in any area of an airport, where they have reasonable grounds to suspect that criminal activity has, or is about to take place.

Measures also enable the Government to act on commitments outlined in the Respect Action Plan by:

• increasing the number of agencies that can enter into Parenting Contracts and apply for Parenting Orders;
• providing a power for CSOs to take part in truancy sweeps;
• providing Trading Standards Officers with the power to issue Penalty Notices for Disorder to clamp down on licensed premises that sell alcohol to under-18s;
• strengthening conditional cautions to add a punitive element to the conditions.

Additional measures include:

• strengthening joint working arrangements between the five criminal justice inspectorates;
• he ability to conclude prisoner transfer agreements without consent, which will ensure that, wherever possible, foreign nationals will serve their prison sentences in their home country;
• extending the Independent Police Complaints Commission’s (IPCC) remit to investigate immigration service enforcement activity;
• increasing the penalties for computer misuse and introducing new offences to bring it up to date;
• extending the circumstances in which live links may be used in criminal proceedings. 

Notes to Editors

1. The Police and Justice Bill was published on 25 January 2006 (Home Office Press Office 012/2006 http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/press-releases/police-justice-bill )
2. The Bill covers England and Wales with some provisions extending to Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

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