Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
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| Long title | An Act to provide for the destruction, retention, use and other regulation of certain evidential material; to impose consent and other requirements in relation to certain processing of biometric information relating to children; to provide for a code of practice about surveillance camera systems and for the appointment and role of the Surveillance Camera Commissioner; to provide for judicial approval in relation to certain authorisations and notices under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000; to provide for the repeal or rewriting of powers of entry and associated powers and for codes of practice and other safeguards in relation to such powers; to make provision about vehicles left on land; to amend the maximum detention period for terrorist suspects; to replace certain stop and search powers and to provide for a related code of practice; to make provision about the safeguarding of vulnerable groups and about criminal records including provision for the establishment of the Disclosure and Barring Service and the dissolution of the Independent Safeguarding Authority; to disregard convictions and cautions for certain abolished offences; to make provision about the release and publication of datasets held by public authorities and to make other provision about freedom of information and the Information Commissioner; to make provision about the trafficking of people for exploitation and about stalking; to repeal certain enactments; and for connected purposes. |
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| Citation | c. 9 |
| Introduced by | Theresa May |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 1 May 2012 |
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Status: Unknown
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| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. As the Protection of Freedoms Bill, it was introduced in February 2011, by the Home Secretary, Theresa May. The Bill was sponsored by the Home Office. On Tuesday, 1 May 2012 the Protection of Freedoms bill completed its passage through Parliament and received Royal Assent.
The concept developed from the Great Repeal Bill proposed in 2008 by Conservative Party representatives Douglas Carswell MP and Dan Hannan MEP as part of a radical "Twelve months to renew Britain". After the 2010 general election, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government whose agreed programme initially promised a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill or "a Freedom or Great Repeal Bill", "Freedom" being the Liberal Democrats' preferred title, "Great Repeal" the Conservatives'. The ensuing Queen's Speech referred to "A Freedom or Great Repeal Bill" which:
would address concerns around what has been described as a tidal wave of criminal justice legislation in recent years. It also provides an opportunity to strengthen the accountability of bodies receiving public funding in light of lessons learnt so far from the operation of the Freedom of Information Act.
The programme was later changed to refer to a Freedom Bill. After the Protection of Freedoms Bill was introduced in 2011, critics claimed it was piecemeal, incoherent, and too focused on protection from public-sector intrusion without sufficient focus on private-sector intrusion.Nick Clegg said, "There may even be a great repeal act down the road that would look at some of the laws not addressed in this bill."
In 2011, Jonathan Djanogly said in answer to a parliamentary question that a Repeals Bill would be a separate civil liberties measure from "the abolition of ID cards; the Protection of Freedoms Bill; and the Your Freedom public engagement exercise which took place over the summer".
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