Offender Management Bill

This has been another short, valuable debate where there has been a great comity of view among its contributors and a general willingness to make further progress on the vexed issue of rehabilitating offenders. The amendment does what it says on the tin and asks the Government to conduct a review of the 1974 Act and publish their findings. We have learnt from the contributors to the debate that the Government have already conducted such a review in 2002, Breaking the Circle, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater and others referred. However, as the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, said, there are problems in implementing it because of the necessary checks and balances that one understandably has to put in place to ensure that, in rehabilitating offenders, one does not put the general public at risk through somebody reoffending. Breaking the Circle proposed modifying disclosure periods for offences and other changes to the operation of the Act. In 2003, the Government agreed that the proposals had merit and proposed to legislate when parliamentary time allowed. That remains the position. However, as I have already said, it is clear that the disclosure landscape has changed to some extent since 2003. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which followed the Bichard report, changes the situation for ex-offenders in many areas of employment. Consideration is required as to whether the Breaking the Circle proposals need updating in the light of these new arrangements. The Government will consider that in due course. I want to make it clear that the Government are fully committed to improving opportunities for employment for ex-offenders. I entirely agree with all those who say that employment is a key route out of offending—that is plain for all to see. The cross-government document Reducing Re-offending through Skills and Employment: Next Steps focuses on the need to improve employability, to link skills training to labour market needs, and to provide offenders with a direct route into employment and with employment support. Those key elements are all there and in place. There are three key priorities in this work: engaging employers through the Corporate Alliance for Reducing Re-offending; building on the new offender learning and skills service, including through the campus model; and reinforcing the emphasis on skills and jobs in prisons and probation. Two test-bed regions will be appointed to work with us to implement the vision in the most effective way. The Corporate Alliance for Reducing Re-offending is one of three alliances launched by my noble friend Lady Scotland in November 2005. Significant activity to engage employers is part of a cross-government agenda, linked into the national and regional education, training and employment boards and integral to the Green Paper Youth Matters: Next Steps action plan. Working in partnership with other government departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions, the National Offender Management Service is developing strategies at national, regional and local levels for engaging employers in providing jobs for offenders and ex-offenders, and using both custodial and community sentences constructively to improve employment opportunities for those offenders. In marketing offenders to employers, we are highlighting how the prison and probation services can train offenders to meet their workforce needs and requirements. A number of major companies have signed up to the corporate alliance including Cisco Systems, Compass, EDS, Holiday Inn, Wessex Water, Wolseley and UBS Investment Bank, as well as Asda, as the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, mentioned. Education for offenders is key to helping them increase their employability. The Government have made substantial additional investment in education provision for offenders. It was £57 million back in 2001-02 and has now risen to £151 million in 2005-06 and £156 million in 2006-07. We have had a significant step increase in the resources set aside for that important work. A further £30 million of European Social Fund investment has been secured by the Learning and Skills Council for funding additional provision over the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08, principally for offenders in the community. In addition, although the final decision has yet to be made, I expect the forthcoming criminal justice Bill to include clauses to bring cautions, reprimands and final warnings within the ambit of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. The amendment would create a statutory requirement for the Government to review a particular piece of legislation and report on it. Much as I understand the move behind the proposed amendment, it would be an odd provision. I contend that our substantive criminal law should not be used simply to require government to conduct a one-off review and publish a report. If we were to go down that road, the statute book could become littered with short-term demands and the volume of our law would increase substantially at a time when many Members of your Lordships’ House would consider less would be better. I understand and fully accept the noble Lord’s commitment to these issues. To a large extent, the Government share it—it is part of a common agenda, but this would not be an acceptable intrusion on to the statute book. That should be reserved for other matters. We fully understand where the noble Lord is coming from. We have embraced much of what was set out in our 2002 review of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act and much progress has been made in Breaking the Circle, but of course I accept that much more needs to be done. I hope that the noble Lord feels able to withdraw his amendment.