HOME Secretary and Blackburn MPJack Straw praised the development of the recent Human Rights Act and told people not to panic about its introduction.

The MP was guest speaker at a conference for public authorities entitled Rights Brought Home -- Integrating Human Rights with Local Services, which was held at Blackburn Rovers ground Ewood Park yesterday.

The event, organised by Leeds-based Walker Morris Solicitors, was designed to provide public authorities with up-to-date information on the issues which come under the Human Rights Act 1998, which came into force on October 2, 2000.

Mr Straw said: "Newspapers said the Act was a villain's charter and that the Government would seize up but though in Government every day is a new day -- as we know from events this week -- so far this hasn't happened.

"The courts themselves are coping well and queues are down on last year in the crown courts.

"I am very pleased my Government has brought this forward."

The MP said the number of remand prisoners is going down since the introduction of the Act and the number of sentence prisoners is going up. He said: "One of the things I kept saying to people before the act came into force is Don't Panic.

"The Human Rights Act does not say do this or do that. Just think if you were the citizen would you want to be dealt with in this way."

He added that the Act means learning to understand and accept responsibilities and the rights of others in the community.

Mr Straw also said the Government had not ruled out the idea of a human rights commission but said that having a commission would not automatically follow that there would be a huge amount of money available for cases that did not have legal aid before.

The conference was opened by leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, Coun Malcolm Doherty, with other speakers representing social services and the legal profession.

Human rights solicitor, Bernadette Livesey, discussed the cost implications of the Act and guests at the event took part in workshops covering employment issues, enforcement of the Act and managing the risk.