Commentary Chief Inspector of Criminal Justice Section 49: Reports
89.This section sets out how often and in what form the Chief Inspector must produce reports and to whom he should give copies. The Chief Inspector must report to the Secretary of State on each inspection and review he carries out, and the Secretary of State must then place a copy of the report before both the House of Commons and the House of Lords and arrange to have it published (subsections (1) and (2)).
90.Subsection (3) enables the Secretary of State to leave out part of the report from the copy laid before the Houses of Parliament and published on the limited grounds stated. Under subsection (4) when the Secretary of State has excluded a part of a report, he must produce a statement with the report that part of it has been excluded.
91.If the report relates to the Prosecution Service, subsection (5) requires the Secretary of State to send a copy to the Attorney General for Northern Ireland. This reflects the fact that the activities of the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland are to be overseen by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland. This obligation would continue post-devolution, when the Attorney General for Northern Ireland will not supervise the Director, but will continue to oversee his activities.