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Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, as the noble Baroness, Lady Miller, reminded the House, the Government, in the form of the noble Lord, Lord Hunt, threatened to remove this clause entirely because they were so worried about time—this was the Bill that they introduced in June or July last year. If I remember correctly, when this was discussed in Committee, the noble Lord said that the Government would remove the clause if we could not reach agreement about some satisfactory compromise. I am not sure that we have necessarily reached that compromise, but the Government have at least brought forward an amendment that does something—even if, as the noble Baroness puts it, they are between the proverbial rock and hard place. I do not think that we would want to oppose the Government provision, even if it is not utterly satisfactory, but at this stage we want to hear from the Minister exactly what the provision does and how it does it. In the light of that, I intend to sit down and listen to what he has to say.