Offender Management Bill

moved Amendment No. 95: 95: Clause 11, page 8, line 2, leave out ““(whenever passed or made)”” and insert ““passed or made before the end of the Session in which this Act is passed”” The noble Baroness said: Clause 11(7) provides the Secretary of State with the power to amend by secondary legislation any legislative provision which prevents or inhibits disclosure that the clause seeks to authorise. As originally drafted, that power applies to existing and future legislation. In its recent report to Parliament on the Bill, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee recommended that the clause be amended so that it no longer covered future legislation. After considering the points made by that committee, we take the view that we should amend the clause to remove the power to amend future legislation. We accept that such a power is unusual and that the nature of the other powers conferred by this clause does not clearly justify a wide amending power. However, in this amendment we wish to retain the power to amend legislation passed in previous parliamentary Sessions and in the same Session in which this Bill receives Royal Assent. Such a power is not unusual. Indeed, the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee did not recommend that we remove this element of the amending power. If the amendment is accepted, the Secretary of State will have available an appropriate flexible solution if, in the future, we identify other legislation that prevents disclosure for no obvious reason other than it was not drafted in the knowledge that the Clause 11 power would subsequently be enacted. We wish to re-emphasise the safeguards in the clause on how such a power to amend might be used. Any changes we seek to make to existing legislation so that it does not prevent the proper use of the Clause 11 power would need to be made by way of statutory instrument, subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. That will allow, therefore, an opportunity to debate all relevant issues in both Houses, and for a vote if it is thought appropriate. We will also, of course, consult other government departments that have ownership of the legislation we might seek to amend. We recognise the real concerns that might be raised by the kind of information-sharing envisaged by the clause and wish to make clear, once again, that nothing in the clause removes or modifies the legal safeguards to which any proposal to share data is automatically subject. Consequently, any proposed disclosure of information using this power will have to be fully compliant with all appropriate legislation, including the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act. I hope that I have fully explained why our amendments offer a sensible way forward. I beg to move.