Offender Management Bill

With the leave of the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker. I have accepted the other place’s proposal that parliamentary scrutiny of these matters is required. I hope that the hon. and learned Member for Harborough (Mr. Garnier) and the hon. Member for Taunton (Mr. Browne) welcome the fact that the Government have recognised that there is a need for such scrutiny. The simple difference between us is whether that scrutiny should be carried out under the affirmative or the negative procedure. Given the amount of such parliamentary scrutiny that might be required, the time that that might take in the House and the fact that these issues will often be uncontroversial, I thought that it would be better to use the negative procedure. If people are concerned about the issue, they can pray against the order and it can be debated and determined by the House.