Debate contribution: Crime and Policing Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on 23 June 2025.

MLA

Mrs Naomi Long

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

23 June 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Crime and Policing Bill: Legislative Consent Motion

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5045881

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Thank you, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. I am grateful for the opportunity to speak about the Crime and Policing Bill that is progressing through Parliament. Before I outline the provisions for which I am seeking consent, it may be helpful for Members if I briefly provide some background information. The Bill was introduced in Parliament on 25 February this year. The Bill is wide-ranging and supports the delivery of the UK Government's safer streets mission to halve knife crime and violence against women and girls in a decade and to increase public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system. It gives police further powers to tackle antisocial behaviour, crime and terrorism. It contains a mix of excepted and reserved matters, some of which apply to or are extended to Northern Ireland, and some transferred matters, which therefore require the Assembly's legislative consent. A number of the measures were included in the previous UK Government's Criminal Justice Bill, which fell in May last year on the calling of the general election. The Bill has completed its passage through the House of Commons and has been republished a number of times following the addition of amendments. Members should note, however, that the clause numbers contained in the motion relate to the Bill as introduced on 25 February. There have been no amendments, beyond the clause numbering, to any of the measures for which I am seeking consent. On 15 May, the Executive agreed to a legislative consent motion's being progressed. Since its introduction, my officials have provided oral and written briefings on the Bill to the Committee for Justice. The Committee agreed, through its report to the Assembly that was published on 5 June, to support the motion. I thank Executive colleagues and members of the Committee for their scrutiny, support and timely consideration of the matter. I will turn now to the 10 measures in the Crime and Policing Bill that I am formally seeking the Assembly's legislative consent to be extended to Northern Ireland. The first measure introduces a new offence of cuckooing, whereby criminals take over the home of another person without that person's consent to use it for specified criminal activity, if certain conditions are met. The creation of that offence will ensure that there is a mechanism through which to prosecute those responsible for that despicable practice and the harm that they cause. It will also improve identification and safeguarding of victims who no longer feel safe in their home. The second measure relates to the possession of advice or guidance on creating child sexual abuse images — "paedophile manuals", as they are more commonly referred to — by amending the current offence of possession of a paedophile manual that is contained at section 69 of the Serious Crime Act 2015. That offence criminalises the possession of any item that involves advice or guidance about abusing children sexually but explicitly excludes advice or guidance related to pseudo images. The new provision will therefore close a loophole in the offence by extending the definition of the current section 69 offence to capture possession of guidance on producing AI-generated child sexual abuse material. The third measure relates to the management of sex offenders and aims to strengthen and streamline the current sex offender notification requirements contained at Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The requirements are more commonly referred to as "the sex offenders register", and are automatically applied to offenders who are convicted of or cautioned for a specific sexual offence. They form an essential part of offender risk management and are considered to be an invaluable tool for the police, in conjunction with the other public protection authorities, in managing the risk of sexual harm that an offender presents whilst in the community. Practically, they enable the authorities to know the whereabouts of relevant offenders so that they can respond to any matters arising as quickly as possible. The fourth measure introduces a new offence of spiking. The Government are repealing sections 22 to 25 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861 and replacing sections 23 and 24 with a single offence of administering a harmful substance, including by spiking. The aim is to increase public awareness that spiking is illegal and encourage victims to report those incidents to the police. The fifth measure provides for a new offence of encouraging or assisting serious self-harm. It replaces the provision in the Online Safety Act 2023 with a broader offence to cover all means by which serious self-harm may be encouraged or assisted, including by any means of communication and any other way. The sixth measure introduces new offences relating to electronic devices for use in vehicle theft. That criminalises the possession, importation, manufacture, adaptation, supply or offer of supply, and possession of electronic devices such a signal jammers, signal amplifiers and devices that are used to access a vehicle's wiring system to commit a relevant offence such as stealing a vehicle, stealing anything in a vehicle or taking a vehicle without authority. The seventh measure sets out extensive reforms to the existing confiscation regime for the proceeds of crime under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, which aim to improve the process for making confiscation orders, ensure the fairness and transparency of the confiscation regime and optimise the enforcement of confiscation orders. The eighth measure introduces cost protections in relation to proceeds of crime and civil proceedings for enforcement agencies. That mirrors the approach taken in the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022, which amended the unexplained wealth order provisions. The ninth measure relates to the implementation of international law enforcement information-sharing agreements. That is a future-proofing measure that ensures that UK agencies can continue to share information with overseas partners to facilitate mutual assistance in criminal investigations. Finally, the tenth measure extends criminal liability to all instances in which a senior manager commits an offence whilst acting within the scope of their actual or apparent authority. That is known as the "identification doctrine reform" and replaces the provisions in the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which was limited to economic crime. That is the summary of the measures for which I am seeking legislative consent today. For completeness, Members may also wish to note that the Bill, at introduction, included at clause 95 a transferred provision to extend access to driving licensing information held by the GB DVLA to police and law enforcement agencies. Due to ongoing policy development with the Home Office, I am not seeking legislative consent for that provision at this stage. I will bring forward at least one further legislative consent motion to cover measures that have been, and are expected to be, added, subject to the approval of the Executive Office Committee and the Justice Committee. That concludes the overview of the Bill. As Minister of Justice, it is, of course, my preference to legislate for devolved matters through the Assembly. However, the extension of the provisions in my motion will ensure that there is consistency across the UK in tackling certain kinds of criminality. It also provides important safeguards for victims. We know that certain types of organised crime know and recognise no boundaries and so should be handled consistently across every jurisdiction. Utilising this Westminster Bill is the most efficient and expedient way to legislate for these matters and prevents a situation in which Northern Ireland becomes a lacuna that is attractive to organised crime. I hope that the legislative consent motion will have the support of the House, and I look forward to listening to Members as they contribute to the debate.

1,276 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:50 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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