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Offender Management Bill

I support everything that the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, has just said. I am glad that the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, has raised the issue of charities. Like the noble Baroness, I commend him for almost everything in the amendment, except that, again like the noble Baroness, I stick over the inclusion of the figure of 7 per cent. I do not like ceilings in these matters. Of course, charities will be part of the partnership and one would encourage that, but things may be changed in annual plans and there may be different opportunities in different places. I quoted the experience of the Youth Justice Board. You have to be certain that the providers will be there when you try to find them, and they may not be. I am particularly glad that subsection (3) was mentioned. Although I am sure that the noble Baroness has seen it, I draw to her attention a report by the Charity Commission entitled, Stand and Deliver, which was published in February 2007. It contains some very disturbing information from the charity sector about how few charities—only 12 per cent—are paid in full in government and public sector contracts. The commission goes on to speculate that this is bound to affect the willingness of charities to become involved in this sort of work in case they are not paid, because they simply cannot afford to go on in that way. The Charity Commission also issues a caution. It says that charities must bear in mind that the mission, which allows them to have charitable status, must not be strayed from. If they enter into contracts with commissioners in the public sector, there is a danger that the requirements of the commissioners will affect that mission. If that happens, their charitable status will be at risk and the trustees will be liable. Attention to all this has been carefully drawn together in a splendid report by Clinks, a hugely reputable and successful organisation which welds together voluntary sector support. Of course, the bigger charities are more able than the smaller ones to withstand this sort of commercial pressure, but it is the small, local charities all over the country that deliver a very large amount of the valuable work which I suspect probation supervisors, in particular, will need in supervising the low-level offenders for whom they will be responsible. As I said, I am enormously glad that the amendment has been put forward but I have concerns about specifying a figure of 7 per cent.