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Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lords, Lord Kingsland and Lord Thomas of Gresford, for giving me this opportunity to apologise unreservedly to the House for the late tabling of two government amendments last night. I do so apologise. We have attempted at all stages of this Bill to work as closely as we can with both Opposition Front Benches. I want to place on record my appreciation of the co-operation that we have had from the noble Lords, Lord Kingsland and Lord Thomas of Gresford, and their Front Bench colleagues in the other place. The House will understand from the Statement made to your Lordships and from our Second Reading debate that we have had to draft this Bill at a very rapid pace, following the judgment in Davis, which was delivered just four weeks ago. We identified a potential loophole only in the past few days and we concluded that it would be highly desirable to make changes in the Bill to avoid that potential loophole being exploited. I apologise that, in the rush to prepare the amendments, it was not possible to provide the Opposition with adequate notice or a fuller explanation. The noble and learned Baroness the Attorney-General will set out the need for these amendments when we reach the relevant stage in our proceedings in Committee. The Bill should be seen as an interim measure until the next Session. Last Tuesday we made an undertaking to the Commons that further legislation would be introduced in the next Session. The Law Reform, Victims and Witnesses Bill will subsume the contents of this Bill and will enable full parliamentary scrutiny. Again, I apologise to the House for what has happened. I beg your Lordships’ tolerance on the understanding that we will have a full opportunity in the next Session to debate these matters again. We intend to invite the Criminal Rules Committee to make rules of court. Of course, it will be up to it to make its own decision. I should say to the noble Viscount, Lord Bledisloe, that these matters have been discussed in the usual channels, but of course it is open to any noble Lord to move an amendment at any stage in the Bill’s proceedings.