My Lords, it is perhaps particularly appropriate that I follow the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, as a way of highlighting the fact that the amendments in this group addressing restorative justice, a number of which are in my name but have already been introduced by the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, are not party-political. This is a conviction, understanding and belief that goes right across the political spectrum and, as the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, said, has arisen from practical experience. Speaking to other noble Lords in the Corridor who have seen my amendments, I have had many people who said, “I wasn’t really convinced and then I saw restorative justice in action, and now I am totally a convert to this idea”. The Government are getting a clear message from right across your Lordships’ Committee that, as the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, said, what was said in the other place—the idea that “Oh, we can put something in the code”—really is not going to do it; we need this in the Bill as a step forward.
I went through this at Second Reading, so I will not repeat it all, but if we look at what the Government are offering now, in their wording is a suggestion that restorative justice is nice when we can find the resources, so you might be lucky enough that there might be the resources available in your area or you might not. That is simply not good enough.
Briefly, I agree very much with all the amendments in this group and echo the comments about Amendment 13. The noble Baroness, Lady Gohir, has found something that the Government can surely pick up, because it so obviously needs to be sorted out.
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Going through my Amendments 16, 22, 32 and 52, I acknowledge that in preparing for this I had considerable support from the Restorative Justice for All international institute. There are some minor differences between
Amendments 14 and 16. I do not necessarily agree with the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, that the words “and, where appropriate” need to be in there. My amendment says that victims
“should be able to access”—
but this is a fine legal point, and I am not particularly attached to one wording or the other in Amendment 14 or 16. What we are saying here may not be entirely fashionable. We are focusing on giving victims the choice and the opportunity to access restorative justice.
This is covered by two international agreements—as I said, possibly not a very fashionable thing to say to the Government, but I will anyway—the EU victims’ directive 2012/29 and the Council of Europe recommendation CM/Rec (2018)8. These two substantial international agreements establish the right to restorative justice as a complement to traditional criminal justice proceedings or as an alternative to them.
My Amendment 22 would introduce something to the Bill and into UK law. I stress that I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that we do not have a substantive definition of restorative justice. I am not going to say that this is the substantive definition, but I put to the Government and your Lordships that we should set out exactly what this means. This is a process that enables those harmed by crime and those responsible for their harm, if they both freely consent, to participate actively in the resolution of matters arising from the offence. Picking up the point made by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, this is something that requires real skill, understanding and wisdom to facilitate, and so should be done through the help of a trained and impartial third party.
Amendment 32, also in my name, picks up a point reflecting what the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Manchester was saying. It is no use having something there unless people know that it is available to them. That does not mean someone just being handed a leaflet, as the right reverend Prelate said; it means people being genuinely signposted and having this explained to them. Restorative justice may be a term that people are entirely unfamiliar with. The right to be signposted towards it needs to be in the Bill.
Finally, Amendment 52 makes this complete package in terms of restorative justice, and states:
“The Secretary of State must issue guidance about restorative justice service providers”,
their roles, services and standards, and ensure that it is offered. This is creating a responsibility for the Government in the Bill which I think is very clear. Picking up the point from the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, we have an enormous problem with our massively overcrowded prisons. We have a problem with crime and recidivism. In the context that we are talking about in this Bill, this is a service for victims that can be of great help and support to them. It can also help all of our society and address some of the pressing issues that we all now face.