Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

moved Amendment No. 7: 7: Schedule 1, page 150, line 10, leave out ““or an officer of a local probation board”” and insert ““, an officer of a local probation board or an officer of a provider of probation services”” The noble Lord said: In moving Amendment No. 7, I shall also speak to Amendments Nos. 8 to 11, 18, 21, 24 to 27, 42, 42A, 50 to 62, 63A, 64A, 179 and 180. These are miscellaneous, minor and technical amendments, but, out of courtesy to the Committee, I intend to speak briefly to them. They come in two batches: I will deal first with Amendments Nos. 24, 63A, 64A, 179 and 180, which make up the smaller batch. Amendment No. 24 ensures that the provisions in Part 1 are properly aligned with Armed Forces legislation and vice versa, and that the provisions fully reflect the new probation arrangements in Part 1 of the Offender Management Act 2007, which are to come into force in phases from 1 April 2008. Amendments Nos. 63A and 64A to Clause 7 simply remove definitions which we have concluded are redundant in this context. Amendment No 24 to Schedule 1 ensures that the schedule reflects the special sentencing powers of service courts. Amendments Nos. 179 and 180 to Schedule 36 ensure that the Armed Forces Act 2006, which applies the Criminal Justice Act 2003 for certain purposes, reflects the amendments made by the Bill to that Act. The amendments ensure that the civil and military sentencing frameworks remain in balance. The remaining amendments in this group, starting with Amendment No. 7, are necessary to make reference to Part 1 of the Offender Management Act 2007. They ensure that the duties and responsibilities that the provisions on youth rehabilitation orders place on local probation boards are also placed on other providers of probation services. Noble Lords know that the Offender Management Act 2007 places the statutory duty for the provision of probation services on the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State may make provision himself, or may contract with other organisations to provide those probation services. Any other organisation, whether public, private or third sector, that is so contracted will be referred to as a provider of probation services. The staff delivering these duties will be known as officers of a provider of probation services. During its passage through Parliament, the then Offender Management Bill was amended to ensure that probation services delivering assistance to courts would be carried out by public-sector providers. This measure can only be repealed by an order, subject to the affirmative procedure. An order subject to the affirmative resolution procedure, making similar consequential amendments to both primary and secondary legislation, is about to be laid in draft before Parliament. This order also seeks to ensure that the duties and responsibilities currently placed on local probation boards across the statute book are also placed on the new probation structure. Phased implementation is planned for the introduction of Part 1 of the Offender Management Act 2007, with the first phase being implemented from 1 April this year. There will be references to both local probation boards and providers of probation services on the statute book in the short term. These amendments update the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill to reflect the dual references to both local probation boards and providers of probation services. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to.