Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, for his clarification. I understand the point. Of course the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, makes a reasonable point: if people have been leading blameless lives, clearly the order is not appropriate for them. I will be rather more sympathetic in my conclusion than was assumed from my introduction, but we need to run through these arguments. The violent offender order will be imposed only on the basis of an up-to-date risk assessment—that goes back to my point about fluidity and the need for a targeted and better focused risk assessment—and only when the risk of an individual is considered to be sufficiently high as to warrant further management or supervision. Noble Lords will need to attend to that point. In recognition of the dynamic nature of risk, we are unwilling to restrict absolutely the definition of a qualifying offender to those who have offended within the past 10 years. To do that would mean that we were unable to manage and supervise individuals whom we know are capable of committing a serious violent offence and who still present a risk of serious violent harm. It would be highly inappropriate knowingly to leave the public exposed to such a risk. I recognise that noble Lords are concerned to ensure that violent offender orders are applied fairly—I recognise the importance of that point; the noble Earl, Lord Onslow, has made it patently clear to all of us several times this evening—and only when an individual’s risk level in the present day is such that further management or supervision is required, is essential, one could argue. I assure the Committee that we share that concern and believe that the provisions as they stand would achieve that aim. However, we take seriously noble Lords’ views on this matter. I certainly recognise that the need for an up-to-date risk assessment may not be as clear as it could be in the Bill. I therefore undertake to table an amendment on Report that will put this requirement beyond doubt. Although we may not go as far as noble Lord seeks to go in this amendment, we have attempted to move some way in the direction of noble Lords’ argument, and for those reasons I hope that the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, will feel able on reflection to withdraw his amendment.