Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I, too, support the amendments in the names of the noble Lords, Lord Thomas and Lord Kingsland. I am very glad that they are there because they are complementary. I am also very glad that we have an opportunity to discuss the briefing, which I am glad the noble Lord, Lord Judd, paid particular attention to, which many of us received from the Standing Committee for Youth Justice. It represents the voices of professionals, and we should all listen to it. The noble Earl, Lord Onslow, mentioned care, which links again—I have paid attention to this in the past—to the Children and Young Persons Bill, which has been going through in a parallel time. I am particularly keen on the provisions that would be made by the amendment to require local authorities to produce an overview from the people responsible for the care of a child to aid those people who have to take the sentencing step. I was, like the Standing Committee for Youth Justice, disturbed to see the comments about this proposal when it was made in the other place. The Minister there said that it would duplicate existing safeguards and provisions in respect of information about the young offender and would impose additional bureaucracy and cost, particularly on local authorities, for little extra gain. From the very beginning of our discussions on the youth justice part of the Bill, people on all sides of the House have emphasised that the focus must be on the child. It seems to me that the Minister did not focus on the child so much as on the bureaucrats and the authority. You cannot have too many safeguards to make certain that the best interests of the child are preserved. I am, frankly, astonished that the Minister should think that that was a line to take. When looking at the responsibility of government in this, I am surprised that the Minister there said that the Bill would place additional duties and requirements on people. Of course, we should put the requirements to deal with the child at the very top of our priorities, not at the bottom of the list. Therefore, I hope very much that these amendments, which are designed to do just that and to make certain that the best interests of the child are not only maintained but recorded so that they can be followed through by others and not just be a one-stop shop when someone appears in court, are taken very seriously. Lastly, I draw to the Minister’s attention the comments of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice, which says that there did not appear to be much strategic thinking behind what the Minister there was saying in his comments. There is not much strategy in this Bill, but if there is one bit that we can rescue, I hope that it is a strategy for better dealing with our children when they come into the hands of the law.