Scrutiny of bills : final progress report : twenty-third report of session 2003-04 : report, together with formal minutes and appendices / Joint Committee on Human Rights.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. Joint Committee on Human Rights
Date:
2004
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Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Scrutiny of bills : final progress report : twenty-third report of session 2003-04 : report, together with formal minutes and appendices / Joint Committee on Human Rights. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    68/76 (page 64)
    paragraph 4.24 of the report we have the following comments which | hope will satisfy the Committee’s concerns. 2. At paragraph 4.24 of the Eighth Report, the Committee raised concerns about clause 207 of the Housing Bill (clause 185 at the time of the Report). This clause provides for the disclosure of information to registered social landlords (RSLs) for the purposes of section 1 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. 3. The Committee's concerns were that information may be passed to RSLs, without there being any obligation on them to deal with that information in conformity with Convention rights. The Committee recommended that the Bill should specify that, in relation to information received under section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998, RSLs should be considered to be performing a public function and therefore be subject to section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998. 4. We have considered carefully the Committee’s concerns and have discussed with Parliamentary Counsel how we might follow the Committee’s recommendations without causing difficulties for RSLs or in future legislation. We have concluded that we are unable to make the amendments to clause 207 recommended by the Committee for the reasons set out below. 5. In the Department’s view, the amendments recommended by the Committee are unnecessary as section 6 of the Human Rights Act will apply where information is received by an RSL under section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act. 6. While the Government's position remains that RSLs are private bodies, the Court of Appeal has held that, for the purposes of the Human Rights Act, RSLs are hybrid bodies and consequently some of its functions are capable of being public in nature while some of its functions remain private.'® Where a function is public in nature, section 6 applies and the body concerned must carry out those functions in a way that is compatible with convention rights. In our view the power to receive information under section 115 of the Crime and Disorder Act will be a function of a public nature as it is intrinsically linked to the power in section 1 of that Act to apply for an anti social behaviour order. It therefore must be exercised compatibly with Convention rights. 7. In addition to the amendment being unnecessary, we are concerned that, if we were to make the amendment recommended by the Committee, it might bring into question the applicability of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 where a private body has public functions but section 6 is not expressly applied by primary legislation. 8. We trust that the Committee will find this explanation as to why we are not taking forward the Committee's recommendations in relation to clause 207 is satisfactory. 21 October 2004 2b. Letter from the Chair, to Rt Hon Keith Hill MP, Minister for Housing and Planning, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, re Connors v UK As part of the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ ongoing review of decisions of the European Court of Human Rights finding the UK in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), | am writing to inquire about implementation of the decision of the Court in Connors v UK in May of this year. 18 Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association Ltd v Donoghue [2001] EWCA Civ 595; 33 HLR 73, CA; 3 WLR 183