Schedule 4 - Qualifying offences for purposes of part 10
Criminal Justice Bill
4:15 pm
Mr Simon Hughes (North Southwark and Bermondsey, Liberal Democrat)
I have indicated our view. If there is a vote, we shall oppose the schedule because we have a clear view that it ought to be limited to the offences that the Law Commission recommended and not apply more widely.
The Minister earlier gave as an example the number of acquittals and convictions on the wounding offence. As I recollect, there were 2,000 or so convictions in a total of more than 3,000 cases; therefore, basing my calculation on the figures supplied by the Minister, there were more than 1,000 acquittals—in one year, I believe. My understanding is that if we extend the offences as proposed, from the two or three suggested by the Law Commission to the 29 now suggested by the Government, and taking only the offence for which there is the largest number of trials—although there will be a large number for aggravated robbery—we are looking at thousands of offences and thousands of acquittals a year. The Government's proposals seem to me to have changed the case entirely so that the provision will not be exclusive, but will apply in general circumstances.
Can the Minister confirm that he will at some stage put in the Library, or on the record in another way, the best existing evidence for the number of trials, convictions and acquittals that have taken place on those 29 offences during a reasonable recent period? I apologise to him if he has already done that.