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Lord Mackay of Drumadoon moved Amendment No. 3:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, I spoke to this amendment with Amendment No. 2. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Mackay of Drumadoon moved manuscript Amendment No. 3A:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, manuscript Amendment No. 3A was spoken to with Amendment No. 2. I beg to move.
On Question, manuscript amendment agreed to.
Clause 2 [Minimum sentence for third conviction of certain offences relating to drug trafficking]:
Lord Mackay of Drumadoon moved Amendment No. 5:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 5 was spoken to with Amendment No. 2. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 4 [Imposition of supervised release orders on conviction of qualifying offence]:
Lord Mackay of Drumadoon moved Amendment No. 6:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 6, with the leave of the House I shall speak also to Amendment No. 7. The two amendments are intended to ensure that supervised release orders are used only in appropriate circumstances. Specifically it relates to the powers of the court to make supervised release orders. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Mackay of Drumadoon moved Amendment No. 7:
The noble and learned Lord said: My Lords, Amendment No. 7 was spoken to with Amendment No. 6. I beg to move.
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 5 [Restriction of liberty orders]:
Lord Sewel moved Amendment No. 8:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 8 I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 9 to 12 and Amendment No. 16. These amendments have the effect of removing from the Bill a provision which was inserted into it at Committee stage in another place; that is, the extension of electronic tagging to persons aged 16 years of age and under.
It is fair to say that that was almost a last-minute addition to the Bill in the other place and was inserted after a limited amount of consultation. In so far as there was consultation, it was overwhelmingly hostile to the idea of electronic tagging being extended to those people aged under 16, mainly because a number of
The other great threat that many of us saw was that the proposal would erode the strength of the Scottish children's panel hearing system, which is recognised as one of the great advantages of the Scottish criminal justice system, especially in relation to juveniles. I am hopeful and pleased that the Government now feel able to accept these amendments. They significantly improve the Bill. I beg to move.
The Earl of Mar and Kellie: My Lords, perhaps I may speak briefly to Amendments Nos. 13 to 15 in my name. They too are concerned with the removal of children from the remote monitoring system--"electronic tagging" as it has been nicknamed. I acknowledge that the amendments moved by the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, go further than my amendments. That may well be appropriate, in that operational experience should be gained with the new community sentence by applying it to adults and young offenders rather than to children. Perhaps some element of monitoring by humans may be tried later.
Amendments Nos. 13 and 14 are aimed at excluding children from the remote monitoring and will allow human monitoring. Amendment No. 15 is aimed at all offenders and not just children. Remote monitoring may well be a viable alternative to custody but I am keen that it be part and parcel with supervision, preferably through a probation order. I shall be interested to see how the pilot projects work out, especially with regard to the comparison between remote and supervised restriction of liberty orders.
Lord Mackay of Drumadoon: My Lords, it may be helpful if I deal with the amendments separately. With regard to the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, the Government's view is that electronic tagging may in the future have a role to play in dealing with some of the small number of young offenders who come before the courts. As I think all noble Lords will appreciate, it was not proposed that electronic tagging should apply to offenders who are dealt with before the children's panel. Therefore we do not accept that this posed any threat to the valuable work which that body does. Nevertheless, the Government are aware that there is a degree of nervousness about the option of tagging offenders dealt with in the courts who are under 16 years of age. We are aware of the view that was expressed that this disposal should be piloted first with adult offenders before being piloted with young offenders. We have therefore taken the view that it is sensible to accept the amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Sewel, and no opposition is offered to them.
I turn to the amendments spoken to by the noble Earl, Lord Mar and Kellie. Amendments Nos. 13 and 14 would have no effect if we agree, as I have already indicated we do, that child offenders should not be liable to receive any form of restriction of liberty order. Amendment No. 15 would remove discretion from the courts. In the courts' view, the courts ought to be left
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Lord Sewel moved Amendments Nos. 9 to 12:
The noble Lord said: My Lords, these amendments have already been spoken to. I beg to move.
On Question, amendments agreed to.
[Amendments Nos. 13 to 15 not moved.]
Lord Sewel moved Amendment No. 16:
On Question, amendment agreed to.
Clause 13 [Increase in sentences available to sheriff and district courts]:
The Deputy Speaker: My Lords, I call manuscript Amendment No. 16A in the name of the noble and learned Lord, Lord McCluskey.
The Earl of Mar and Kellie: My Lords, the noble and learned Lord, Lord McCluskey, has sent me a message asking me to apologise on his behalf for his inability to be present due to his sitting in court in Edinburgh.
[Manuscript Amendment No. 16A not moved.]
[Manuscript Amendments Nos. 16B to 16G not moved.]
Clause 15 [Driving disqualifications]:
The Earl of Mar and Kellie moved Amendment No. 17:
The noble Earl said: My Lords, in moving this amendment, I wish to speak also to Amendment No. 18. These amendments are aimed at ensuring that the courts have a full appraisal of their intended sentencees' circumstances. This will enable them to understand the implications of such a sentence and so to understand the severity of such a sentence. There is nothing new in the idea of the courts seeking suitability reports. This happens with probation, community service, intensive probation and other programmes such as domestic violence projects. The reason for seeking suitability reports is obvious. These sentences need to be
Page 3, line 2, leave out ("one party does") and insert ("the complainer, that is to say the person against whom the offence was committed, did").
Page 5, leave out lines 8 to 15 and insert--
("(3) The court shall not impose the sentence otherwise required by subsection (2) above where it is of the opinion that there are specific circumstances which--
(a) relate to any of the offences or to the offender; and
(b) would make that sentence unjust.").
Page 5, line 18, leave out ("qualifying") and insert ("class A drug trafficking").
Page 7, line 11, at beginning insert ("Subject to subsection (11) below,").
Page 7, line 22, at end insert--
("(10) For the purposes of this section "court" does not include a District Court except where constituted by a stipendiary magistrate.
(11) No court may impose a supervised release order for a period longer than the maximum period of imprisonment which that court may impose for a common law offence.".").
Page 7, line 28, after ("person") insert ("of 16 years of age or more").
5 p.m.
Page 8, leave out lines 4 to 11 and insert ("for any period up to 12 months.").
Page 8, line 45, leave out from beginning to end of line 2 on page 9.
Page 9, line 38, leave out ("or (4)").
Page 10, leave out lines 1 to 5.
Page 12, line 7, leave out ("or, as the case may be, (4)").
Page 21, line 44, at end insert--
("(4) A court shall not order an offender to be disqualified for holding or obtaining a licence to drive a motor vehicle under this section unless it has obtained a report as to the circumstances and character of the offender.").
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