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Police and Justice Bill

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman is not happy with the word ““taxing””, but we do not get any meat from the Government; we get a bit of waffle in many ways. The third issue is the extension of the range of agencies that can enter into parenting contracts and apply for parenting orders. I intervened on the hon. Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Lynne Featherstone) when she was being very negative about that proposal. She was concerned about training and the organisations that might be included, but I welcome that measure. If we really want to get to grips with the problems, we must be positive. The Liberal Democrats were not positive, but I welcome what the Government are endeavouring to do in that respect. However, the restructuring of other organisations is very technical, and many hon. Members are not happy with those parts of the Bill. We should concentrate on the real issues that affect individuals. I was interested to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (Mr. Johnson), who made a very powerful contribution and highlighted the other issue that I was going to raise in my contribution, but as he said it in such a powerful and interesting way, I will not continue with it, other than to say that he makes a valid point about which Conservative Members are very concerned. I know that the Minister has been listening avidly not only to what I have said, but what he said on the matter, and I am sure that she will take on board the issue, so that we can have some action on it. There is much to welcome in the Bill, but there are other areas where we feel that there is another agenda, which is to do with police restructuring and taking the decisions higher up and away from the local community. Conservative Members believe that localism is important and that people should feel an affinity with their local police force and with the people who enforce the law in their localities. In many ways, aspects of the Bill give more and more power to the Home Secretary and assign things to larger organisations. That will not deal with the problems or allow organisations to feel ownership of the solution for dealing with antisocial behaviour in their localities. There is much that is good in the Bill, but we are concerned about aspects that take things in the opposite direction to the way in which we believe that they should be going, which is to make sure that local communities have ownership of local problems and the solutions, too. As the Bill proceeds, we will push hard on the two or three points that I have highlighted.