I beg to move, That this House
agrees with Lords amendment 1.

With this it will be convenient to take Lords amendments 2 to 5.

This new clause is related to provisions already in the Bill in clauses 6, 7 and 8. All the clauses are intended to facilitate the work of police collaborative units to ensure that where two or more police forces reach collaboration agreements in respect of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, the fact that investigative teams may comprise officers from different forces will not cause any operational problems. Amendments 2 to 5 are minor and technical amendments that authorise conduct likely to take place in Scotland under section 46 of the Act. I hope that the House will concur with the Lords in these amendments.

Clauses 6, 7 and 9 make certain procedural amendments to the Police Act 1997 and the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 in order to streamline the authorisation process for matters such as surveillance and, in particular, covert human intelligence sources or CHISs. Where collaboration is necessary, amendments to the RIPA authorisation are required. The Government anticipate greater collaboration between police forces, two or more, in which they enter into agreements to deliver better policing and-one hopes-some efficiencies. We are strong supporters of such arrangements and we therefore support Lords amendment 1.

Subject to certain conditions being satisfied, authorisation by one collaborating force for such surveillance activities or use of CHISs could be extended to members of another collaborating force, removing the need for duplicate authorisations to be issued by both collaborating forces. We supported this in Committee and we are pleased to do so again today.

I agree with the points that have just been made. These are very straightforward technical arrangements to facilitate co-operation between two forces working across force boundaries so that they can have a controller from one force area and a handler from another force area, if that is relevant to an operation in progress. We support these amendments.

Lords amendment 1 agreed to.

Lords amendments 2 to 5 agreed to.