---

Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

Following on from what the noble Lord, Lord Thomas, said, I shall take this opportunity to voice again my general concern about the way all this legislation is going. I have said many times that one of my greatest concerns with the Government’s criminal justice policy is that it has never been costed. Nobody has worked out how much it costs in men, money and machines to carry out what the Government say that they intend to do. Only yesterday, there was a classic example of this when the custody plus programme was said to be the flagship of what was proposed. We all know that that is a classic example of something that was preached as being wonderful but has never come about because the resources to make it happen have never been available. Has the Minister done a sum and worked out whether the resources are available to deliver all the things that are required to be done—all these hours of work—with young offenders? Who is going to supervise that work? Are the resources of people, money and programmes there for them to do it? It is surely ridiculous to introduce legislation that cannot be implemented, because that must undermine trust in those who put it forward as a sensible proposal. I am sure that that is not what the Minister intends. I am absolutely with him: we want the best for our children. However, it is important not to introduce legislation that cannot be implemented, because that cannot make sense in the long term.