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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

moved Amendment No. 80A: 80A: Clause 13, page 10, line 9, leave out ““in any part of the United Kingdom”” The noble Lord said: This long series of government amendments attempts to refine new Schedule 15A, which I am sure we will discuss in due course, which this Bill proposes to insert into the Criminal Justice Act 2003. New Schedule 15A sets out a relatively small list of particularly grave offences that can render an offender liable to a public protection sentence even where his or her immediate offence does not meet the two-year minimum tariff threshold. So, if an offender has a previous conviction for one of these offences—a Schedule 15A offence—and on a future occasion commits a further sexual or violent offence, the courts will have the power to impose a public protection sentence upon him or her even where that tariff for the instant offence is below the two-year threshold. We are clarifying the schedule in several respects. We wish to put beyond doubt the fact that previous convictions for the inchoate versions of the listed offences will qualify for a public protection sentence even where the trigger offence does not meet the two-year threshold. The amendments in this respect reflect law reform developments by referring to the provisions of Part 2 of the Serious Crime Act 2007, which now govern the position on encouraging or assisting offences. Similarly, new Schedule 15A is amended to include reference to an offender who aided or abetted the commission of an offence that is listed in the schedule. We think that these are sensible clarifications of the scope of new Schedule 15A and will enhance public protection. I hope that the Committee will agree that an offender may play a substantial role through inchoate offences; that he may be no less dangerous, because, for example, he was interrupted or prevented in the course of the offence; or that he may have been an accessory to the committed previous offence. It will remain the case that there is judicial discretion in whether a public protection sentence is given. The court will not be obliged to impose a public protection sentence simply because an offender has a previous conviction for an offence listed in new Schedule 15A; but it may do so if in the circumstances it thinks that that is appropriate. We are also including the offence of murder in new Schedule 15A. If an offender who has been released on licence from prison for murder commits a further violent or sexual offence, he will qualify for a further public protection sentence even if the further offence would be below the two-year threshold. While in practice this may make little difference, given that all murderers will be on life licence, we accept that its inclusion is logical and makes the law more complete. In this group of government amendments, we also include offences under service law that correspond with the offences listed in Schedule 15A. This provision is not without precedent. A similar form is used in Schedules 3 and 5 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to set out the offences that make an offender liable to the imposition of a sexual offences prevention order. It also reflects the drafting approach used in Schedule 34 to this Bill for the purposes of construing the meaning of ““child sex offences””. I beg to move.