Anti-social Behaviour Bill
4:00 pm
Baroness Walmsley (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, I am most grateful to the Minister for that clarification; it gives me some comfort. However, I must observe that the Bill has an obscure way of saying that, although the way in which the Minister put it was clear and not at all obscure.
It is important that the courts should be encouraged to use community sentences, because they are clearly not doing so anywhere near as much as even the Government would want them to—certainly not as much as many people working with young people would like them to be used—instead of custodial sentences. However, in view of what the Minister said, for the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.