Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I wish to oppose the Question whether Clause 50 shall stand part of the Bill. This first grouping would remove Parts 4 and 5 of the Bill—that is, the provisions to establish Her Majesty’s Commissioner for Offender Management and Prisons and the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Prison Complaints. The amendments to Clauses 196 and 200 and to the Long Title are consequential upon removing these two parts. As I indicated at Second Reading, we are aware that concerns have been expressed recently about the degree to which the governance and accountability arrangements set out in the Bill afford these two new statutory office holders a sufficient degree of independence from the Government of the day. Concern has also been expressed about the removal of the remit of these two commissioners from that of the Parliamentary Ombudsman. It is important to put on record that, compared with the existing administrative arrangements, placing these offices on a statutory footing already enshrines a significant degree of independence for the commissioners. The commissioners would be appointed by Her Majesty and only she will be able to remove them from office as a consequence of Addresses in both Houses of Parliament. Furthermore, the commissioners would be legally distant from the Secretary of State and derive their remit and powers from statute. In formulating the provisions in the Bill, account was taken of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association’s criterion on independence, which is that an ombudsman’s appointment should be by persons independent of those subject to investigation. In stipulating that the commissioner staff would be provided by the Secretary of State, the Bill adopts a pragmatic approach based on what we consider to be the most efficient way of staffing these offices. Similarly, we consider that the provision of finance and administrative support—for example in relation to the provision of IT systems by the Secretary of State—would avoid any additional administrative burden to the commissioners. Results of consultation in 2004 on the framework for a statutory ombudsman confirmed there was strong support for the removal of the commissioner’s remit from that of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, on the grounds that there should be a clear boundary between the commissioner’s remit and those of other statutory ombudsmen and that there should be no oversight of the commissioner by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. However, removing these provisions from the Bill will allow us time to properly reconsider, in consultation with the relevant parties, what changes may be necessary to address concerns, particularly in the governance and accountability arrangements. In reviewing the measures, we will have to ensure that any changes to the current proposals will also be viable and continue to deliver an efficient, easily accessible service for those potentially vulnerable people covered by the remit of these ombudsmen. We intend to consult relevant parties, which will include the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, the Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration to agree a time-bound plan for review of the present policy. We will also want to consider carefully the conclusions of the Joint Committee on Human Rights in respect of those provisions. We would also expect the outcome of our review to be produced later this year and would hope to have an early opportunity to reintroduce fresh legislation. I hope your Lordships will understand that it would be inappropriate now for me to seek to anticipate the outcome of this review. We will consider very seriously giving consideration to the other models that have been suggested and of course have regard to views that are expressed in Committee this afternoon. I look forward to hearing those views with interest and commend these amendments to the House.