Justice Week 8-12 December 2008

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April 19, 2007

The Bill in the Lords - Second Reading

The Offender Management Bill had its Second Reading in the Lords on Tuesday 17 April. It now passes to the Committee Stage. At the time of writing the earliest date for commencement of this stage is 14 May. The Bill will be in a Committee of the whole House and is likely to be debated for 4 to 5 days.

During the debate at Second Reading, Baroness Scotland, for the Government, was quite conciliatory in tone and promised that there would be more concessions.

Baroness Anelay, for the Conservatives, attacked the top-down model and said that amendments would be tabled by her Party to make sure that commissioning was at a local level.

Baroness Linklater, for the Liberal Democrats, attacked the Bill and also supported local commissioning.

Lord Woolf, the former Chief Justice, said the Bill was unnecessary, and that what was need for Probation and the criminal justice system was a period of stability.

Other positive contributions were made by, amongst others, Baroness Gibson, Baroness Turner, Lord Dholakia and Viscount Bridgeman.

Read the full debate here

Napo has been in discussions with Peers of all Parties and cross benchers about Amendments at Committee and Report Stage. More information on these will be posted over the coming weeks.

Napo does not expect members to Napo does not expect members to be actively lobbying Peers. However, if any Napo member has contact with a Peer it is worth writing them. A model letter can be downloaded below together with a briefing that Napo produced for the Second Reading.

Download letter

Download Briefing

Posted by kfalcon at April 19, 2007 03:05 PM