On 30 January 2008, the Home Secretary laid before both Houses a draft Order to renew the control order legislation, the third annual extension of the control order regime. The Government takes the view that the recent House of Lords judgments on control orders upheld the control orders regime and that no amendments to the legal framework are necessary following those judgments. The Committee disagrees and considers it imperative for the Government to amend counter-terrorism laws where experience has shown them to lead to breaches of human rights. In the Committee's view control orders will continue to cause breaches of rights unless the legislation is modified in a number of important respects. It will put forward amendments intended to make the control orders regime compatible with human rights in its report on the Counter-Terrorism Bill (paragraphs 1-18).

In the Committee's view, the failure to ensure the timely availability of Lord Carlile's annual report frustrates effective parliamentary review of the operation of the control order legislation. It recommends measures to strengthen parliamentary oversight in future (paragraphs 19-34).

The Committee has previously been concerned that the control orders regime was being operated in practice in breach of the right to liberty, because the restrictions imposed were so extensive in many cases that they amounted to a deprivation of liberty. The Committee still has these concerns following the Home Secretary's response to the Lords ruling in the JJ case. It recommends that Parliament should amend the control orders framework to clarify what measures may amount to a deprivation of liberty and to impose a maximum limit of 12 hours a day on the length of curfews (paragraphs 35-49).

The Committee remains concerned about due process in the control orders regime. It is surprised that the statutory reviewer finds that the system of special advocates is working well, when a number of special advocates have expressed serious concern about the fairness of the procedure. It considers that the legal framework requires clarification in light of the House of Lords judgment in MB and recommends changes to help ensure fairer hearings in control order cases (paragraphs 50-59).

The Committee continues to support the policy professed by the Government of preferring to prosecute as a first resort. However, the fact that no individual who has been made the subject of a control order has subsequently been prosecuted for a terrorism offence calls into question the extent to which priority is given to criminal prosecution in practice. After the House of Lords judgment in the case of E, the Committee considers that changes to the control orders legislation are necessary to ensure that prosecution is treated as a priority and recommends amendments, including a new requirement that, except in urgent cases, the Secretary of State may only make a control order where she is satisfied that there is no reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution for a terrorism-related offence (paragraphs 60-76).

The Committee agrees with Lord Carlile that control orders cannot be continued indefinitely and that there must be an exit strategy for ending control orders in relation to each controlled person. It considers that amendments to the control orders legislation are necessary to achieve this and recommends that the law be amended to impose a duty on the Secretary of State to keep the need for a control order under review and to impose a maximum limit on the duration of a control order (paragraphs 77-87).

As explained in previous Reports, the Committee remains very seriously concerned about the adequacy of the parliamentary scrutiny of the control orders regime and about the human rights compatibility of that regime and its operation in practice. It therefore has very serious reservations about renewal unless the Government agrees to make the necessary amendments to render it human rights compatible. Without those amendments control orders will inevitably lead to further breaches of human rights (paragraphs 88-89).