Home Secretary renews control order legislation and welcomes Lord Carlile report

HOME OFFICE News Release (015/2009) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 3 February 2009

The draft Order to renew control orders legislation was laid before Parliament today by the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.

The annual report on the operation of control orders legislation by the independent reviewer Lord Carlile has also been published.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said:

"It is important that we strike the right balance between safeguarding society from the risk of terrorism and the preservation of the rights of the individual. I believe that control order provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 strike that balance, which is why I am asking Parliament to renew the Act.

"I am grateful to Lord Carlile for his detailed report. I welcome his recommendation that control orders remain necessary. The Government has no higher priority than protecting the public from terrorism and control orders remain an important tool to deal with suspected terrorists who cannot be prosecuted or deported".

Lord Carlilie's report analyses the operation of the control order system in 2008 and concludes that he 'would have reached the same decision as the Secretary of State in each case in which a control order has been made in 2008'.

In the report Lord Carlile also stated:

"Control orders remain a largely effective necessity for a small number of cases, in the absence of a viable alternative for those few instances.

"The control order system as operated currently is a justifiable and proportional safety valve for the proper protection of civil society, but prosecution and conviction by a jury of criminal offences is a far more wholesome and satisfactory way of dealing with suspected terrorists."

Lord Carlile makes a range of recommendations in his report, which the Government will consider carefully.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. Lord Carlile's report on the operation in 2008 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 is available on the Home Office website:
http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/news-publications/publication-search/prevention-terrorism-act-2005/lord-carlile-fourth-report.pdf

2. Lord Carlile of Berriew Q.C. was appointed in 2001 as the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation.

3. For further enquiries, contact the Home Office Newsdesk on 020 7035 3535.

4. The statutory consultees for the renewal of the control order legislation (the Director General of the Security Service, the Intelligence Services commissioner and the independent reviewer of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005) all continue to support the maintenance of the control order regime.