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More than a dozen Bills going through Parliament extend the powers of state inspectors to enter people’s homes, the Government has admitted.Despite a pledge by Gordon Brown last October that he would limit powers and introduce a liberty test, he has extended the right to enter property in planning, crime, environmental, education and health legislation.A parliamentary answer obtained by the Conservatives shows that nine Bills and one draft Bill contain new powers of entry, with three others entrenching existing powers.“The fact that Gordon Brown is entrenching and extending powers of state bureaucrats to enter people’s homes makes a mockery of his so-called review into powers of entry,†Eric Pickles, the Shadow Communities Secretary, said.The Counter-terrorism Bill and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, for example, allow entrance to properties to enforce social disorder and antiterrorist laws. The Education and Skills Bill allows the State to inspect private schools and the Climate Change Bill allows officials to enter homes to enforce black bin charges and to monitor carbon-trading schemes.Mr Pickles, who said that there was a need for measures to tackle crime and terrorism, added: “Yet this uncontrolled extension contradicts Gordon Brown’s empty promises on liberty and is another worrying sign of the surveillance state.â€A survey of state powers to enter people’s homes by the Centre for Policy Studies last April highlighted a significant expansion of entry powers under Labour.The spokesman from the Home Office said that all the Bills would be included in the review of powers of entry. The spokesman added that it was inevitable that some new powers had to be included in the Bills to ensure the laws were enforceable.
