1 Background
Date introduced to first House 10 May 2012
Date introduced to second House
Current Bill Number HL Bill 49
Previous Reports None
Introduction
1. The Crime and Courts Bill was introduced in
the House of Lords on 10 May 2012.[1]
Lord Henley, the Minister of State for Crime Prevention and
Anti-social Behaviour Reduction, has certified that, in his view,
the Bill is compatible with Convention rights. The Bill received
its Second Reading in the House of Lords on 28 May 2012 and completed
its Committee stage on 13 November.[2]
Report stage is scheduled for 27 November.
2. On 22 October the Government introduced some
amendments concerning community sentencing and deferred prosecution
agreements. The Government amendments were introduced too late
for us to be able scrutinise them and report on their human rights
compatibility in time for the Bill's Report stage. We will be
considering the Government's amendments and may report further
in relation to them in due course if we consider that they raise
significant human rights issues.
3. We wrote to the relevant Ministers on 4 July
asking for further information about a number of specific human
rights issues raised by the Bill.[3]
The Minister replied by letter dated 30 July 2012.[4]
4. We identified the Bill as one of our priorities
for legislative scrutiny in this session and called for evidence
in relation to it.[5] We
received written evidence in relation to the Bill from the Office
of the Children's Commissioner, the Children's Rights Alliance
for England and the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association.
All of the written evidence we have received is available on our
website. We are grateful to all those who have assisted with our
scrutiny of the Bill's human rights implications.
5. This Report concentrates on the most significant
human rights issues likely to be debated during the remainder
of the Bill's passage, in light of the debates so far at Committee
stage in the Lords.
THE INFORMATION
PROVIDED BY
THE GOVERNMENT
6. The Government published alongside the Bill
a detailed ECHR Memorandum prepared jointly by the Home Office
and the Ministry of Justice, setting out the Government's views
on the principal human rights implications of the Bill.[6]
The memorandum provides a detailed account of the Government's
reasons for concluding either that particular provisions do not
interfere with human rights or that any interference is justified.
The detail and quality of most of the human rights analysis in
the memorandum shows that serious and careful consideration has
been given to the human rights implications of the Bill. The
departments concerned have also provided supplementary ECHR memoranda
in relation to Government amendments which have human rights implications.[7]
7. The relevant members of the Bill team also
made themselves available to meet our Legal Adviser and the Lords
Clerk to answer any questions about the Bill and to provide any
further information. Following that meeting, a number of "fact
sheets" were provided to our staff which have helped with
the scrutiny of the Bill. The combination of the detailed ECHR
memorandum, the supplementary memoranda, the meeting with the
Bill team, the further information provided and the detailed response
to our questions in the response to our letter has made it possible
to focus this Report on the most significant human rights issues
raised by the Bill.
1 HL Bill 4. Back
2
18, 20, 25 and 27 June, 2 and 4 July, 30 October and 13 November. Back
3
Ev 3. Back
4
Ev 4. Back
5
Press Notice on the Committee's Legislative Scrutiny Priorities
2012-13. http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/news/jchr-legislative-scrutiny-priorities-for-2012-13/ Back
6
See http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/legislation/crime-courts-bill/ Back
7
See supplementary ECHR memoranda dated June 2012 and October 2012
at See http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/legislation/crime-courts-bill/ Back
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