Clause 11 - Grant and conditions of bail
Criminal Justice Bill
9:15 pm
Mr David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
It is a delight to be here in Committee again. Fresh from my debates with the hon. Member for Stone (Mr. Cash) on the niceties of the treaty of Nice, I was pleased to find that this Committee was still sitting and that I had the opportunity to contribute.
The amendment would remove subsection (c), which provides new grounds for the imposition of bail conditions—namely,
''for his own protection or, if he is a child or young person, for his own welfare or in his own interests''.
The amendment is designed to help us understand why the Minister supports that proposal: it is not intended to wipe it out, but to elicit a fuller explanation. Until now, bail conditions have been based on straightforward grounds relating to the alleged offence or an assessment of the likelihood of reoffending. The clause extends that to conditions that are comparable to the grounds on which an alleged offender could be remanded in custody, and we are concerned principally with the position of the children.
It is difficult to find circumstances in which a custody sergeant, who presumably would be the one who makes such a decision, would have the opportunity to make a full assessment of the welfare needs of the child to such an extent that proper conditions could be applied. As we know, under article 3 of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, we have the commitment that all actions concerning children will be based on the best interests of the child. That will be the paramount consideration. There will be circumstances in which the best interests of the child will be for a conditional bail, for example to deliver that child into the hands of the responsible welfare authorities such as social services. I understand that, but feel that there are better ways of ensuring that in existing child welfare legislation. We could build on the experience of inter-agency working on children, which has grown considerably in past years, rather than the inevitably superficial examination that is the maximum that could be expected from a police officer in the circumstances.
I have some questions for the Minister. Under what circumstances does he expect the new provision to be used? How does he expect it to be used, and what conditions does he expect to be imposed on bail? Given that we all hope that the Bill's provisions will be in accordance with our obligations under the convention on the rights of the child, in what way does he feel that the proposals fully comply with the possible consequences of an arbitrary use of conditions of bail when that was previously unavailable?