Protection of Freedoms Act

Status of the bill: Enacted

Main purpose of the bill:

To restore civil liberties by rolling back State intrusion into private lives and pursuing a common sense approach to public protection.

Main points of the bill

Makes provisions regarding the retention and destruction of evidential material. In particular fingerprints and DNA of people arrested for or charged with a minor offence will be destroyed following either a decision not to charge or an acquittal. If charged for, but not convicted of, a serious offence, fingerprints and DNA may be retained for three years with a possible two year extension.

Requires schools and colleges to obtain parental consent before processing biometric information of a child under 18 years of age.

Provides for further regulation of CCTV, Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and other camera surveillance techniques operated by the police and local authorities. Requires the Secretary of State to publish a relevant code of practice and provides for the appointment of a Surveillance Camera Commissioner to monitor the operation of the code.

Amends the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) in order to require local authorities to obtain judicial approval before using any one of three covert investigatory techniques: namely - the acquisition and disclosure of communications data (e.g. telephone bills); the use of directed surveillance (e.g. covert surveillance of individuals in public places); and the use of covert human intelligence sources (CHIS) (such as deployment of undercover officers).

Provides for the repeal of unnecessary powers of entry, to add safeguards in respect of the exercise of such powers, or to replace such powers with new powers subject to additional safeguards.

Makes provisions in relation to parking enforcement. In particular makes it a criminal offence to immobolise, move a vehicle, or restrict the movement of a vehicle without lawful authority.

Permanently reduces the maximum period of pre-charge detention for terrorist suspects from 28 to 14 days.

Replaces certain stop and search powers and provides for a related code of practice.

Amends the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 in order to scale back the vetting and barring scheme (VBS) and criminal records regime to "common sense levels" whilst still ensuring vulnerable groups are protected.

Amends the Police Act 1997 in relation to the disclosure of criminal convictions and other relevant information in certificates issued by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to support the assessment of a person's suitability for employment etc.

Provides for convictions and cautions for certain abolished offences to become disregarded; e.g. consensual gay sex with another person aged 16 or over. Also provides for such disregarded convictions and cautions to be deleted from the Police National Computer (PNC) and other police records so they no longer show up on criminal record checks.

Amends the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to the release and publication of datasets held by public authorities and in relation to the office of the Information Commissioner.

Contains two repeals of enactments. Repeals section 43 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 which provides for certain fraud trials to be conducted without a jury, and removes the restrictions on the times when a marriage or civil partnership can take place.

Progress of the bill:

The Protection of Freedoms Bill was introduced to Parliament on 11th February 2011.

Commons:
First Reading: 11.02.11 Second Reading: 01.03.11 Committee Debate: 22.03.11 24.03.11 29.03.11 05.04.11 26.04.11 28.04.11 03.05.11 10.05.11 12.05.11 17.05.11 Report Stage:  10.10.11 11.10.11 Third Reading: 11.10.11

Lords:

First Reading: 12.10.11  Second Reading: 08.11.11  Committee Stage: 29.11.11 06.12.11 13.12.11 15.12.11 12.01.12 Report Stage: 31.01.12  06.02.12  15.02.12  Third Reading:  12.03.12 

Ping Pong:  19.03.12  24.04.12  Royal Assent:  01.05.12