Government responds to JCHR Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill report

Article summary

The government has responded to the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR) second report on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The JCHR made a number of recommendations in its report, including addressing the provisions on protests to comply with the European Convention of Human Rights, a limitation on the excessive degree of judgement for police officers and the removal of the new trigger for imposing conditions on processions and assemblies based on noise. The government has responded to the recommendations, making several statements appease the concerns raised about the limitation of chants during protests in the Bill and reasons why the new trigger for processions and assemblies is necessary.