Offender Management Bill

My Lords, this has been a most interesting and detailed Second Reading debate, with knowledgeable and committed contributions from all sides of the House. I add my thanks to the Minister for setting out with her customary clarity the Bill and its provisions. In the current climate of prison overcrowding, ineffective control orders and tagging shambles, to name but a few recent examples—sadly, we have come to expect a new exposé every week—it is no wonder that there is a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system and in the supervision of criminals on probation. Cutting crime, ensuring justice for victims and preventing reoffending are all aims that your Lordships applaud, yet, despite reams of Home Office legislation and new initiatives, the problems seem to be developing rather than subsiding. I fear that this Bill, as it arrives in your Lordships’ House, is not much different. Despite last-minute amendments in the Commons, with promises of more to come, noble Lords from all sides have indicated that this House feels there is still much to do if the Bill is to truly help rather than hinder improvement in protecting the public and making a real difference in addressing reoffending rates. Against the backdrop of uncertainty, instability and overstretch in the Probation Service, the Government have set out their belief in the need for wholesale reform, in what my noble friends Lady Anelay and Lord Elton have made clear is a bureaucratic and expensive restructuring. Does the Minister accept that the constant reorganisation of the service may have played some part in the crisis in which the service finds itself? We on these Benches recognise the hard work, service and commitment of probation officers in the difficult circumstances in which they find themselves, as eloquently described by the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Worcester, the noble Lord, Lord Judd, and the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, to name only a few. Morale is low. As the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, put it, the service does not really know if it is coming or going. Indeed, I would like to offer him in advance the support of these Benches for the amendment that he will introduce to delay the implementation of Part 1 until further consideration has been given to, and consultation has been undertaken on, the Carter report. It is impossible for the Government to claim that the responses to the consultation that they undertook fully supported the measures proposed in the Bill. Indeed, the Government’s plans have changed so often that it is difficult to be sure exactly where each new proposal comes from. It is most certainly possible to formulate a constructive way forward for the probation services, but we need to do that with support from the sectors concerned and to pay them the courtesy of engaging in constructive dialogue with them. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, has proposed a characteristically well thought-out and practical integrated structure on a regional basis—I think that he called it a ““cluster? when he addressed the pre-legislative committee in another place—at strategic and operational levels. I hope that the Minister and her department will give serious consideration to the noble Lord’s amendments, which I understand he will be tabling, so that a really constructive contribution can be made at the later stages of the Bill. We on these Benches want to see rigorous and effective supervision of those given community sentences. We welcome the involvement of the private and voluntary sectors and the knock-on effect of greater competition in the delivery of public services. However, I fear that the top-down, centralised structure proposed by the Government will only create the opposite of a system that is capable of reflecting the needs and requirements of specific localities. We have seen similar moves before. In the Police and Justice Bill, the Government talked of community-based policing on the one hand, while trying to remove it on the other. We also want to explore further concerns that the proposals could work against the contributions of smaller charities. On that matter, I hope that the Minister will bear in mind the remarks of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Worcester in respect of the perceived enthusiasm of the larger charities on account of the possibility of a contract. I understand that the Charity Commission has also had concerns to that effect. For my part, I will endeavour to scrutinise the detail of Part 2 of the Bill, which received very limited attention in the other place. We hope, among other things, to table amendments to explore the powers of search and detention in contracted-out prisons and secure training centres with regard to the training that prisoner custody officers receive, taking into account the concerns of the children lobby. We also hope to explore the details of Clause 19, and I look forward to debating issues surrounding mental health and speech and language therapy, as proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham. These are considerable issues that merit careful consideration in Committee. I look forward to focusing, in particular, on the effects of the Bill on children and young people. I know that my noble friend Lady Morris—a second Peer who has been unable to take part in this debate on the matter of children—is keen to support this scrutiny. I do not need to outline the benefits of ensuring that children in custody receive rehabilitation that is constructive and, above all, safe, yet there is a clear and present need for improving the treatment of children in the penal system. Statistics from the Howard League for Penal Reform, contained in the landmark survey of the noble Lord, Lord Carlile, show that in one 18-month period the total number of hours that children were held in isolation amounted to 1,500, that 2,161 children were injured during physical restraints, and that, in one secure training centre alone, more than 1,500 searches, including what are known as strip searches, were carried out. That matter has of course been debated in your Lordships’ House. Most especially, we are concerned that the overall structural ““rehaul? could undermine extant statutory partnership arrangements that are leading to the development of children’s trusts in each local authority. Children’s trusts stand to play a vital role not only in securing the well-being of all children and young people in our communities but also in contributing to the rehabilitation of young offenders. I hope that the Minister will be able to inform your Lordships of the precise effects that she expects the new measures to have on extant statutory partnerships. Indeed, I hope that she will be able to go so far as to provide a guarantee to noble Lords that children’s trusts will not be undermined by the provisions of the Bill. The Bill introduces further measures which have caused great concern to both ourselves and interested groups, including the NSPCC, Barnardo’s, the National Children’s Bureau, the Standing Committee on youth justice and the Howard League for Penal Reform. The Minister has indicated that the Government are considering the problem of transferring young offenders from young offender institutions to adult prisons. We shall be interested to know what plans she has regarding the widening of accommodation that can be used to implement the detention component of a detention and training order. The issues are not only pertinent to the organisation and administration of custody for young offenders but they also constitute serious challenges to the provision of safe custody. Noble Lords will, I am sure, recall that in last year’s Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act the Government had to be virtually press-ganged into accepting that prison officers in young offender institutions should be subject to mandatory CRB checks. Indeed, that provision will not come into force for another three years. I seek a serious reassurance from the Minister that such safeguards will be implemented within the three-year timeframe promised by the Minister, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, last November. The Bill has many and wide-ranging applications. The former head of the Prison Service and the Probation Service, Martin Narey, in giving evidence to the other place, argued in favour of both offender management and competition, but he said that, "““neither counted for much unless the right balance could be struck between sentencing and the prison population, because of the damage overcrowding does to work on rehabilitation?." Meanwhile, the head of the respected home affairs think tank, Civitas, has suggested that, "““the Government’s proposals on contestability were being too dominated by central Government to allow sufficient innovation?." Getting the right balance is central to improving service delivery. Perhaps I may refer to the Scottish experience. It was said, not for the first time, that Scottish practice merits further consideration. That point was raised initially by the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater of Butterstone, and echoed by several noble Lords. I hope that that will form part of the Minister’s thinking, and I am very pleased to see that my noble friend Lady Carnegy of Lour is in her place to hear that. I know that my noble friend Lady Anelay was critical of many aspects of the Bill but she indicated that she sees it as a real opportunity to introduce some constructive amendments—a view which I know is shared by many of your Lordships taking part in this debate. In conclusion, I echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord Judd: the overriding purpose of the Bill is rehabilitation. I look forward to the Minister’s reply.