Offender Management Bill

I made it clear at Second Reading, as reported at col. 128 of Hansard on 17 April, that I regard the limitation in Clause 4 to be fundamental to the Bill. I chose my words very carefully. It is a matter of policy, as the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee observed at paragraph 28 of its report. The committee was right to say that, and we find it strange that the Government have also inserted the means for removing the safeguard in that clause by statutory instrument in Clause 12. I gave a commitment at Second Reading that we wished to look at Clauses 4 and 12 very carefully in Committee. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, is right that we should be looking at Clause 12 through the gateway given to us when we talked about Clause 4. The difficulty is that we have not yet heard the arguments of the noble Lord, Lord Judd, who wishes to remove Clause 12 altogether. We may yet reach Clause 12 stand part tonight, in which case we may have the opportunity to hear from him, although it may not be until next Monday. Any progress towards contestability should proceed cautiously. When the Government made the concession on Clause 4 at the 11th hour in another place—on Report—the Minister, Mr Sutcliffe, said that it was brought forward in that spirit. He said (at col. 960 of the Official Report of 28 February 2007) that he accepted that the House still had concerns about the pace and scale of change, and about what might happen in the future. That is an understatement if ever I heard one. The reality was clear: the amendment was brought forward only because the Government Whips thought that they would lose the Bill at Third Reading if they did not and it was the only way of heading off a significant rebellion from their own ranks at the time. Clause12 has the air of something rushed into a Bill to enable the Government to get their legislation via the secondary route that they would not have achieved by the primary route. My honourable friend Mr Edward Garnier made it clear that we would not enter into arguments about what should be subject to contestability and at what stage we were happy for it all to be open to contestability under the proper conditions. Those arguments lie at the core of objections to the removal of Clause 4 by the statutory instrument powers in Clause 12. The difficulty today is that so far we have not heard from the Government their justification for Clause 12. This is their opportunity to give that justification. The one given in another place smacked of a Government throwing a provision into the Bill to get out of a hole. There has to be a better justification than that for the statutory instrument route in Clause 12 and I hope that the Government will take this opportunity to give it. It is extremely opportune that we have reached this amendment at this stage; it means that I will have the opportunity to reflect between now and next Monday on the appropriateness of my Amendment No. 99, which would take a significantly different route in trying to square the circle. It tries to find a way out of the impasse between those who do not want Clause 12 at all and those who do. It is important that the Minister gives us the justification for using the route the Government have here for removing something as significant as Clause 4 from primary legislation. I agree with the Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee that it is fundamental to the Bill.