Member

The Minister may refer to the safeguards that the Bill includes in Clause 83, which provides that complaints and misconduct in relation to these new search, entry and seizure powers will be handled by the Independent Office of Police Conduct, the IOPC. That is welcome, but it is backward-looking as it will investigate only after the event. The extent of this oversight is delegated to regulations, including Henry VIII powers to modify how the IOPC duties and oversight provisions in PACE will apply. Such delegated powers make it difficult for us to be clear about the adequacy of the oversight that the IOPC will in fact provide.