Offender Management Bill

I must apologise for being temporarily absent when the noble Baroness introduced the amendment. There is very little to add to the case that she ably made, except to say that I sometimes feel that in these difficult areas where there is always a process of rationalisation about why the ultimate conclusion cannot be reached, the ultimate conclusion is not reached until one makes a firm law that it mustnot happen. If it must not happen, alternative arrangements have to be made. The noble Baroness was right to probe the extent of a demonstrable commitment to achieving that objective. I hope that the Minister will be able to reassure us on this matter, because, as we said on a previous, not unrelated, amendment, this is not just a theoretical consideration. There have been too many instances of things going badly wrong. For that reason, we have reached a time when it should not happen. The Government have to find a way of saying that, so that the necessary alternative arrangements are in place.