Clause 12 - Offences committed on bail
Criminal Justice Bill
9:30 pm
Mr Hilary Benn (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Leeds Central, Labour)
Government amendments Nos. 37 and 38 correct an error in new paragraph 9AA. That paragraph provides that if a defendant is on bail in criminal proceedings on the date an offence was committed, the court is to give particular weight to that fact in deciding whether he or she would be likely to reoffend if released on bail.
As drafted, the paragraph requires that either the instant offence or that for which the defendant is already on bail should be imprisonable. However, as the schedule applies only to imprisonable offences, it is clear that the paragraph can apply only if the instant offence is imprisonable, so paragraph 9AA(1)(b) is redundant. The amendment simplifies and clarifies the new paragraph.
Amendment No. 139 was tabled by the hon. Member for Southwark, North and Bermondsey. I confess that I am not entirely clear as to its purpose, although we will no doubt hear about that in a moment. However, if the intention is to remind people of the context in which the decision is being taken, I understand the helpful intent. I hope that, from the framework within which those decisions have been taken, it will be clear that regard has been paid to whether to take a decision about remanding in custody or granting bail with conditions. Our view is that it is not necessary to add the amendment for those reasons. I hope that that is helpful.