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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

moved Amendment No. 20: 20: Schedule 2, page 136, line 44, leave out sub-paragraphs (12) to (16) The noble Baroness said: My Lords, with this amendment we return to the issue of the original offence not warranting custody or being non-imprisonable and whether the court should be precluded from imposing an intensive supervision and surveillance requirement for breach of the rehabilitation order. We appreciate that the Bill provides that in the event of a wilful and persistent failure to comply, the court has various options. As the Minister will be aware, the Standing Committee for Youth Justice has concerns about these proposals. It points to the number of cases that have returned to court for breach in recent years. We would not have these provisions before us if the system was working perfectly. The Bill is supposed to improve the position but the Standing Committee for Youth Justice feels that it is likely to exacerbate the trend. I am sure the Minister has the relevant figures but in 2005-06, 2,738 young people were returned to court for non-compliance with ISSPs, which was almost half of those commencing the intervention. Therefore, this issue gives rise to serious concern. The committee is also concerned that to allow the use of custody in cases where the original offence was not sufficiently serious to warrant it is not consistent with the purposes of sentencing in the Bill. I feel even more strongly about that issue following the debate we have had about the purposes of sentencing. Therefore, I would appreciate hearing whether the Minister feels that without this amendment the Bill sufficiently reflects the fact that the purpose of the sentence needs to read across into what happens if there is a breach. I beg to move.