The pay bands and pay ranges for special advisers for 2010-11 are as follows:
Scheme Ceiling
£142,668
Pay Band 4
£88966-£106,864
Pay Band 3 and Premium
£66512-£103,263
Pay Band 2
£52,215-£69,266
Pay Band 1
£40,352-54,121
Pay Band 0
Up to £40,352
Pay bill costs
The pay bill for special advisers in 2009-10 was £6.8 million.
Terrorism: Stop and Search
Statement
The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones): I wish to inform the House of errors relating to those periods in the past which have recently been identified following an internal review of the authorisation process for the stop and search powers under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has undertaken work in relation to a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act concerning authorisations for the Section 44 stop and search powers. In the course of reviewing its Section 44 records, the MPS identified an authorisation from April 2004 which had not been confirmed by a Home Office Minister within the statutory 48-hour deadline for confirmation.
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Subsequent investigations revealed that approximately 840 were stopped and searched in the relevant area during the period of the invalid authorisation. The MPS is urgently considering what steps can reasonably be taken to contact those individuals involved.
As a result of this discovery, the Office for Security and Counter Terrorism (OSCT) in the Home Office undertook a review in May 2010 of all Section 44 authorisations since the Terrorism Act came into force on 19 February 2001, in the course of which a number of other errors came to light. I have to inform the House that it appears that stop-and-search powers have been used unlawfully by a number of police forces on a number of occasions. The Home Office has written to each of the police forces concerned to alert them to these errors and those forces are now in the process of assessing how many individuals were stopped and searched in the periods of invalid authorisations. They will do their best to contact those involved. To summarise these errors, on 33 occasions authorisations were specified to be for 29 days, and two occasions when the authorisations were specified to be for 30 days, whereas the statutory maximum period is 28 days. In addition, there was one further case (as well as the MPS incident in April 2004) where ministerial confirmation for the authorisation was not provided within the statutory 48-hour deadline. All of these cases appear to have been as a result of administrative errors which were not identified at the time by either the police or the Home Office. A full breakdown is included in the attached table.
Lord Carlile, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has been informed.
Three episodes of errors taking place in the Section 44 authorisation process have previously been brought to the attention of the House. For completeness, these are also included in the attached table bringing the total number of such cases to 40. Home Office officials are working closely with the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) with the aim of ensuring there are no incidents in future. Officials will keep Lord Carlile and me informed and I will report back to the House as necessary.
I am aware that there is considerable concern about the operation of Section 44 stop-and-search powers going beyond these authorisation errors. The Government are committed to a wider review of counterterrorism legislation, including the operation of the Section 44 stop-and-search provisions. While I take some reassurance from the fact that no errors have occurred since December 2008 when the authorisation process was tightened, I want to assure the House that there will be utmost vigilance in future. It is with the need for this in mind that I have instructed Home Office officials unconnected with the administrative process to conduct the internal review of procedures.
Table of Erroneous Authorisations
Authorisations over the statutory 28 day period
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Kent Constabulary
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
19 February 2001
08.00 hrs
18 March 2001
19 March 2001
11 April 2001
08.35 hrs
08 May 2001
09 May 2001
Sussex Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
05 March 2001
11.50 hrs
01 April 2001
02 April 2001
07 September 2001
12.00 hrs
04 October 2001
05 October 2001
19 December 2001
15.30 hrs
15 January 2001
16 January 2001
15 January 2007*
09.15 hrs
11 February 2007
12 February 2007
12 March 2007*
14.21 hrs
08 April 2007
9 April 2007
*The two occasions in January and March 2007 were addressed by Lord Carlile in his report for that year.
Durham Constabulary
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
03 April 2001
09.30 hrs
30 April 2001
01 May 2001
Cleveland Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
02 April 2001
10.30 hrs
29 April 2001
30 April 2001
City of London Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
29 April 2001
12.00 hrs
26 May 2001
27 May 2001
21 June 2001
12.00 hrs
18 July 2001
19 July 2001
20 July 2001
11.20 hrs
16 August 2001
17 August 2001
17 August 2001
12.00 hrs
13 September 2001
14 September 2001
Thames Valley Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
29 April 2001
12.00 hrs
26 May 2001
27 May 2001
25 May 2001
12.00 hrs
21 June 2001
22 June 2001
22 June 2001
08.05 hrs
19 July 2001
20 July 2001
20 July 2001
08.04 hrs
16 August 2001
17 August 2001
17 August 2001
08.01 hrs
13 September 2001
14 September 2001
24 June 2002
11.33 hrs
21 July 2002
22 July 2002
Metropolitan Police Service
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
29 April 2001
12.00 hrs
26 May 2001
27 May 2001
25 May 2001
12.00 hrs
21 June 2001
22 June 2001
22 June 2001
12.00 hrs
19 July 2001
20 July 2001
20 July 2001
13.00 hrs
16 August 2001
17 August 2001
17 August 2001
12.00 hrs
13 September 2001
14 September 2001
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North Yorkshire Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
21 September 2001
12.00 hrs
18 October 2001
19 October 2001
19 October 2001
11.45 hrs
15 November 2001
16 November 2001
16 November 2001
12.00 hrs
13 December 2001
14 December 2001
Hampshire
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
02 September 2002
10.25 hrs
29 September 2002
30 September 2002
Bedfordshire Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
15 November 2002
10.00 hrs
12 December 2002
13 December 2002
Essex Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
20 October 2003
08.05 hrs
16 November 2003
17 November 2003
Greater Manchester Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
19 January 2004
09.30 hrs
15 February 2004
16 February 2004
16 August 2007*
15.20 hrs
12 September 2007
14 September 2007
13 September 2007*
12.00 hrs
10 October 2007
11 October 2007
*The two occasions in August and September 2007 were addressed by Lord Carlile in his report for that year.
Fife Constabulary
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
31 March 2008
16.43 hrs
27 April 2008
28 April 2008
South Wales Police
Authorisation Date
Authorisation Time
Statutory End Date
Actual End Date
6 February 2007*
13.50 hrs
05 March 2007
7 March 2007
*The occasion in February 2007 was addressed by Lord Carlile in his report for that year and the Government Response to his report. The Government response also highlighted an incident in 2005 where South Wales did not have an authorisation in place between midnight on 21 June 2005 and 09.25 hrs on 24 June 2005.
