Criminal Justice and Court Services Bill — Functions of inspectorate — 14 Nov 2000

Lords amendments considered.

Lords amendment: No. 1, in page 2, line 3, after first ("local") insert ("probation")

I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 2, 5 to 10, 12, 16 to 24, 26 to 28, 30, 40, 83 to 86, 96, 97, 119, 120, 126 to 129, 131 to 134, 136 and 139 to 151.

that phrase should be amended to read "probation board". The use of the phrase "local board" is not only confusing and meaningless, but could cause problems when contracting with other boards. In house--

it may be understood, but to those outside, it would be ambiguous.

Many local boards exist, such as those of companies, banks and even the gas board.

To refer simply to "local boards" without adding a qualifying adjective provides a recipe for confusion.

totally unmemorable, forgettable and neutral.

even a little "Kafkaesque". The present name "local board" suggests nothing more and nothing less.

unnecessary for a simple reason: calling the boards "local" boards emphasises their close relationship with the communities that they will cover.--[ Official Report, House of Lords , 2 October 2000; Vol. 616, c. 1149-51.]

Lords amendment agreed to.

Lords amendment No. 2 agreed to.

Lords amendment: No. 3, in page 2, line 10, at end insert--

("( ) ensuring offenders' awareness of the effects of crime on the victims of crime and the public")

I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendment No. 4.

Lords amendment agreed to.

Lords amendments Nos. 4 to 10 agreed to.

Lords amendment: No. 11, in page 3, leave out line 5 and insert

("in respect of its area for the purposes mentioned in section 1 and for ensuring the performance of any other functions conferred by virtue of this Act or any other enactment on the board,")

I beg to move, That this House agrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendments Nos. 13, 95, 99 and 102 to 105.

Lords amendment agreed to.

Lords amendments Nos. 12 and 13 agreed to.

Lords amendment: No. 14, in page 3, line 24, leave out ("accommodation") and insert ("supervision").

I beg to move, That this House disagrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Deputy Speaker:

With this it will be convenient to discuss Lords amendment No. 15 and the Government motion to disagree thereto, and Lords amendments Nos. 29, 53 and 54.

That should be done in a fair-handed way.

I am not sure whether he intended to say "fair-minded" or "even-handed", but it showed how confused he was in response to these serious matters. He has sadly been nicknamed Lord Climbdown.

What in my amendment would legally preclude the most dangerous people from being supervised in the accommodation? The noble Lord has not answered the question. I am pressing this point because the noble Lord's response has been based on that premise; namely, that my amendment would be dangerous . . . I am not satisfied with the response that I have received from the noble Lord.--[ Official Report, House of Lords , 31 October 2000; Vol. 618, c. 828-30.]

Lords amendment disagreed to.

Lords amendment No. 15 disagreed to.

Lords amendments Nos. 16 to 24 agreed to.

Lords amendment: No. 25, in page 4, line 30, at end insert

(", provided that no such direction shall merge the functions of the Chief Inspector with those of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons").

I beg to move, That this House disagrees with the Lords in the said amendment.

This is the first opportunity I have had to join my right hon. Friend the Minister of State in congratulating the hon. Member for Buckingham (Mr. Bercow) on his appointment.

the functions of the Chief Inspector with those of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons.

made a great contribution to our shared goal of ensuring that prisoners are held securely in safe, decent and healthy establishments. I am pleased that he will continue in his role beyond the expiry date of his original appointment.

Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Probation, Sir Graham Smith, also retires close to the end of July 2001.

the Government flexibility in considering how best to ensure that the arrangements for inspection of prisons and the probation service best support closer working between the services as well-ensuring that the individual services continue to be inspected rigorously and independently as they have been. I shall be making a further statement to Parliament on this in due course.--[ Official Report , 9 June 2000; Vol. 351, c. 392-93W.]

Question put, That this House disagrees with the Lords in the said amendment:--

The House divided: Ayes 345, Noes 166.

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