New Clause 2 - Court of Appeal: Attorney General's power to refer unduly lenient sentences
Courts Bill [Lords]
10:45 am
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I shall be extremely brief, Mr. O'Brien. I am pleased for the hon. Gentleman that his new clause was within the scope of the Bill and selectable because, as he said, it gave him the opportunity to raise an issue that he and many of his colleagues have raised in the past.
The proposed new clause underlines the fact that that matter will not be decided by the Department for Constitutional Affairs, which in turn confirms my strongly held view that the matter should not be decided by the Home Office. It should not be a matter for the Home Department. The fact that that Department still has significant responsibility for the way in which laws are framed, for sentencing policy and for a whole range of other judicial matters—or perhaps matters of justice—underlines the botched job that has been made of setting up the new Department. A proper department of justice would have responsibility for this area. Its Minister would be responsible for determining, with his colleagues, the way in which such matters were dealt with, and would have the opportunity to discuss with the Attorney-General and the Solicitor-General how it would work in practice. That underlines the fact that we have a halfway house that is satisfactory to no one. I hope that discussions on the shape and form of the new Department will progress and that it will eventually have the appropriate range of powers in the field of justice.