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Offender Management Bill

I support the amendment. I listened carefully to what the Minister said previously about involvement of the voluntary sector. I recall Dame Suzi Leather visiting the Cross-Bench group some time ago and speaking about the Government contracting out work to the voluntary sector. She reported that three-quarters of the contracts were inadequately funded, which is a great cause for concern. I recognise the important step forward the Government are trying to take, but we all know how very difficult it is to get commissioning right. It is an extremely complex business, and we have not been good at it in the past. It is therefore important to insist in the Bill that contracts have as their starting point value for money and good quality instead of, as is often inadvertently the case, being the cheapest deal one can find. That we must avoid at all costs.