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Remand on Bail (Disapplication of Credit Period) Rules 2008

rose to move, That the draft rules laid before the House on 7 July be approved. The noble Lord said: My Lords, the draft rules arise from Sections 21 to 23 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 which, when commenced on 3 November, will create new arrangements that will allow time spent on bail while subject to an electronically monitored curfew to be credited against a subsequent custodial sentence. These new arrangements give effect to a measure recommended by my noble friend Lord Carter of Coles in his review of prisons to help manage demand for prison spaces. It may assist the House if I briefly explain how the credit will operate before I go on to explain the purpose of the rules. To qualify for the curfew credit, defendants must have been subject to an electronically monitored curfew, which I will refer to as tagged bail, for at least nine hours per day. Electronically monitored curfew conditions constitute a significant restriction to a defendant’s movements and compliance is rigorously monitored. But a curfew is clearly less arduous than being remanded to custody, and so to reflect the position that being subject to a curfew does not equal a deprivation of liberty whereas remand to custody clearly does, each day of tagged bail will provide a potential credit against sentence of no more than half a day. The court will have discretion, if it considers it just in the circumstances, not to count all or any of the available days and will be required to take into account the defendant’s compliance with the curfew. The sentencing judge must state in open court the number of days spent on tagged bail that will count as time served towards the sentence imposed. This is a sensible measure that will provide an incentive to those remanded on tagged bail to comply with their conditions as well as providing relief to the prison population. The purpose of the draft rules is to set out specific circumstances in which the court must not grant credit under the new provisions. It is appropriate to restrict the credit given in particular circumstances where it would undermine public confidence in the provisions. The rules are consistent with the equivalent rules made by the Secretary of State in relation to crediting periods of remand in custody. We have consulted the judiciary on the content of the draft rules through the Criminal Procedure Rule Committee. All its comments have been taken on board. Draft Rule 2 will prevent a court making a direction which would have the effect of counting twice the same period of time spent subject to tagged bail. This covers the situation, for example, in which a defendant spends a period under tagged bail in relation to two offences and is then sentenced at different times. Where the first sentencing court directs the time to count towards the first sentence, the rules will prevent the second court counting the same period toward the second sentence. Draft Rule 3 will prevent the court making a direction in relation to days spent on tagged bail where the offender was also subject to an electronically monitored curfew as a consequence of early release from prison, or as part of a non-custodial sentence such as a community order with an electronically monitored curfew requirement. Similar provision can be found in rules made under Section 240 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, where time spent remanded to custody at the same time as time spent serving a custodial sentence is prevented from being directed to count against any subsequent sentence. The draft rule will ensure that offenders who have been released early under the home detention curfew scheme and those who have been released on general licence subject to an electronically monitored curfew do not receive credit. Draft Rule 4 deals with the unlikely event that a prisoner released from prison under temporary licence appears before a court on further charges during that period without first being returned to prison for breaching the terms of their licence. Prisoners who are charged with an offence during a period of temporary release will ordinarily have their licences revoked and be returned to prison quickly. The rule is simply a precautionary measure to make it clear that prisoners released from prison under temporary licence must not receive credit. It would of course be open to the court to use its discretion not to grant credit in the specific circumstances set out in the draft rules. However, the rules will remove any doubt by providing the courts and defendants with absolute clarity about the circumstances in which a sentencer must not give credit. I commend this draft statutory instrument to the House. I beg to move. Moved, That the draft rules laid before the House on 7 July be approved. 26th Report from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments.—(Lord Bach.)