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Sentencing Guidelines (Pre-sentence Reports) Bill

My Lords, I confess that I am still struggling to understand this Bill, despite it having only one clause. The Minister was as helpful as he could be in Committee, and we all know his pedigree, but he has been dealt a very difficult hand. I think this

is a bad Bill and, as my noble friend has just said, it is going to be bad law. We all know the political background to it. On Monday, at Second Reading of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, one noble Lord used the delicate word, which I will repeat, “presentational”. I think that is quite a good synonym. The Constitution Committee has commented on the Bill, picking up very much the points that the noble Viscount and my noble friend made and the response from the Ministry of Justice has not, I think, taken us any further.

In Committee, I asked what was meant by the words “framed by reference to”. I still do not really understand them. This has caused me to table Amendment 3, although I realise it is a bit risky pursuing this, because we may be told from the Dispatch Box that the Bill is more restrictive than we would actually want to see, and it is arguable that as it stands, the guidelines can refer to characteristics depending on the law which is being shaped.

The legislation should be clear and certain—points which were made very clearly by the Constitution Committee—especially in this sort of situation. It is curious that the Bill seeks to pit the state against a body such as the Sentencing Council.

6.30 pm

I also have Amendment 6 in this group. As my noble friend said, we spent some time trying to understand what are characteristics and what are circumstances. There is sometimes quite a grey line between the two, and there are of course factors which may be both. My noble friend has referred to pregnancy. I realised after I had tabled the amendment that better than “an assessment which would be beneficial” would be “an assessment which would be suitable”—“suitable” being the word used in the sentencing code—or “appropriate”, which is a very good catch-all term. However, my point is clear enough.