Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I thank all noble Lords who have participated in the debate. The Minister said that the new provision reflected national standards, but I thought that the current situation was a reflection of national standards. I am very much in debt to the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, for two reasons. First, she felicitously explained that the community order system does not work at present for reasons that have nothing whatever to do with the flexibility of the way these breaches are approached. I cannot for the life of me see how the change that the Government are proposing in that context can change that underlying and melancholy fact. I am also in her debt for bringing out a point that was made earlier during our debate on the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Stern, to which, as the noble Baroness, Lady Falkner, rightly reflected, the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, had assented—that the Government are committed to using custody as a last resort. In the course of that debate, I remember saying to the noble Baroness, Lady Stern, that her amendment has to have bite; otherwise she will find that, however one can talk generally about the desirability of minimising custody, if one looks at the detail one will see that that principle is undermined at every turn. Here is a very good example of that principle being undermined, and the Government, despite their general concurrence with what the noble Baroness said, are the guilty party. I also disagree with the Minister’s interpretation of the schedule provision on page 168. I found his argument uncharacteristically unconvincing. He is removing an existing discretion that has been responsibly applied and extremely valuable to the way in which these breaches are dealt with. Although I am going to withdraw the amendment now in Committee, I think that I will return to it on Report. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. [Amendments Nos. 30 and 31 not moved.]