Policing and Crime Bill

As I understand it, Amendment 70 would impose an absolute limit of 24 hours on the period that the police would be allowed to detain an offender following an arrest for breach of an order served under Schedule 1. This issue was debated in another place but I note that since that debate this amendment has been recommended by the Joint Committee on Human Rights. The committee expressed concerns that without amendment the provisions could result in someone being detained for a substantial period. While I appreciate the concerns raised by the committee and the noble Baroness, I am afraid that we are of the view that this amendment is not necessary. Detention in these circumstances may be required in order to ensure that an offender, who has not only breached an order but also ignored a summons of the court, can be brought before the court to be resentenced for the initial offence of loitering or soliciting. I reiterate at this point that the options available to a court on resentencing are to impose the order again or to impose a fine; the court is not able to impose a prison sentence either for the original offence or a breach. Previously, when the provisions of this order were proposed in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill, they allowed the police to detain an offender arrested for a breach of an order for up to 72 hours—this may be where the English Collective of Prostitutes got its figure—while they awaited a court hearing. This raised some concern as the provisions passed through Parliament. We have acknowledged this and paragraph 9 will now oblige the police to bring the offender before a court "as soon as practicable". While I accept that the noble Baroness and possibly other noble Lords still have concerns about this wording, I want to make it clear that, contrary to the suggestion in the Joint Committee’s report, we did respond to concerns that were raised on this issue when the provisions were included in the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill in the last Session. First, if a person fails to attend one or more of the appointments as required under these orders, the magistrates will be able to issue only a summons. Previously, we had allowed them to issue a summons or a warrant. It is only if the person subject to the order fails to respond to a summons that the court will be able to issue a warrant. Secondly, the police will now be able to bring that person back before any court, not only the court that issued the original order. This should make it easier for the police to ensure that the offender is brought before the court more quickly. These changes reflect our intention that detention will only ever be used as a last resort, as we will make clear in guidance. However, we agree that, when it is necessary, our priority must be to ensure that the length of detention is as short as possible. We are confident that paragraph 9 of Schedule 1 will achieve this objective without imposing an upper limit of 24 hours, with which, in certain circumstances, the police may not be able to comply. For example, if an arrest was made on a Saturday afternoon or evening, the police would not be able to bring the offender before a court until Monday morning at the very earliest. Obviously in such circumstances it would not be possible to comply with the 24-hour time limit. It is in the interests of the police to bring offenders before a court quickly and, even though we can foresee circumstances where it may not be feasible, we anticipate that in the overwhelming majority of cases offenders will be brought before a court within 24 hours. In those few cases where offenders are not brought before a court within 24 hours, the words "as soon as practicable" provide sufficient protection against undue periods of detention. However, if someone is detained for breaching an order and believes that they have been detained unduly, they can make an application to the court for habeas corpus, claiming that their detention is unlawful. At this point the police will be required to prove that it had not been practicable to bring the offender before the court at an earlier stage. If the court is not satisfied with the explanation provided by the police, it will demand the immediate release of the offender. I take seriously the concerns that have been raised by the Joint Committee on Human Rights and, of course, by the noble Baroness, Lady Miller. It is important to have safeguards against undue use of detention in these circumstances and that is why we have responded to concerns about the previous provisions. We believe the current provisions provide the appropriate safeguards and are necessary for the reasons I have set out. As such, I ask that the noble Baroness withdraws her amendment.