Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

177A: After Clause 71, insert the following new Clause— ““Alcohol monitoring requirement (1) After section 212 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, insert— ““212A Alcohol monitoring requirement (1) In this Part ““alcohol monitoring requirement””, in relation to a relevant order, means a requirement that during a period specified in the order, the offender must— (a) not consume alcohol, (b) for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is alcohol in the offender’s body, provide samples of such description as may be determined, at such times or in such circumstances as may (subject to the provisions of the order) be determined by the responsible officer or by the person specified as the person to whom the samples are to be provided, and (c) pay such amount of no less than £1 and no more than £5 in respect of the costs of taking and analysing the sample as may be specified in the order. (2) A court may not impose an alcohol monitoring requirement unless— (a) it is satisfied that— (i) the offender has a propensity to misuse alcohol and the offender expresses willingness to comply with the alcohol monitoring requirement, or (ii) the misuse by the offender of alcohol caused or contributed to the offence in question, and (b) the court has been notified by the Secretary of State that arrangements for implementing the requirement are available in the area proposed to be specified in the order under section 216 (local justice area to be specified in relevant order). (3) A relevant order imposing an alcohol monitoring requirement must provide that the results of any tests carried out on any samples provided by the offender to the monitoring officer in pursuance of the requirement are to be communicated to the responsible officer. (4) The Secretary of State may from time to time give guidance about the exercise of the function of making determinations as to the provision of samples pursuant to subsection (1)(b). (5) The Secretary of State may make rules for all or any of the following purposes— (a) regulating the provision of samples pursuant to an alcohol monitoring requirement, including hours of attendance, interval between samples and the keeping of attendance records; (b) regulating the provision and carrying on of a facility for the testing of samples; (c) determining the maximum and minimum fee that may be specified under subsection (1)(c), and the frequency of such payments; (d) regulating the functions of the monitoring officer; and (e) making such supplemental, incidental, consequential and transitional provision as the Secretary of State considers necessary or expedient. (6) In this section, ““monitoring officer”” means any person, other than the responsible officer, specified in an alcohol monitoring requirement as the person to whom samples must be provided.””.””