Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
10:45 am
David Hanson (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice; Delyn, Labour)
I am grateful for the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion. However, that suggestion was not put to the Programming Sub-Committee or indeed to the usual channels before their discussions. I commended the programme motion before the Committee today. I say to the hon. and learned Gentleman that the purpose of these evidence sessions, as outlined by the Leader of the House, is to ensure that we have some wider debate on such points.
I will make two other quick points. There was a suggestion that the Opposition had not been consulted about the individuals who form the Committee and that the hon. and learned Gentleman’s letter had got lost in the post. He will know that I wrote to him about such matters before the recess, and he will know that my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting discussed the matter with the official Opposition. He will also know, if he looks at his letter and file, that as a result of his representations, the Police Federation and the Probation Boards Association have been added to the list of witnesses for the Committee in the programme motion. The time available to debate the programme motion prevents me from going any further now.
The hon. and learned Gentleman will know that we also approached the judiciary on his suggestion to see if they wished to participate in evidence session. The judiciary declined to take part because of the party political nature of some of the discussions that might take place. He will reflect on the fact that we have considered such matters and, in doing so, have accepted some of his suggestions. I am very happy to do that because my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting was exemplary in the way that he held discussions with colleagues beforehand, as indeed were my officials, to ensure that we had a full replication of the wishes of the Committee.
I would say the same, without being too hasty, with regard to the hon. Member for Somerton and Frome. The same discussions were held with the official Opposition. My hon. Friend assures me that he has had discussions with the Liberal Democrats in relation to the witnesses and the Select Committee aspect of the Bill. I have been assured by him that the Liberal Democrats did not propose one single witness to attend this evidence session. I am very relaxed about that. At the end of the day, we are a Committee and we will seek evidence from individuals and individuals will put points to the Committee. As a Minister, I and my colleagues will try to facilitate the opportunity for individuals to put evidence in a positive way to the Committee.
In final summation, I welcome the fact that we can add the Evangelical Alliance. The programme motion before the Committee was agreed without a Division in the Programming Sub-Committee. If I can break confidences, there was very little discussion at that stage about adding to the programme motion. I commend the motion to the Committee and I hope that both the hon. and learned Member for Harborough and the Liberal Democrats will understand that the Government want to engage with them in a positive way. We want to have witnesses. If there are lessons to be learned about this process, then, certainly, we will try to learn them. However, I believe that by trying to engage others in discussion, we have acted in an honourable way. I hope that the programme motion reflects the wishes of the Committee.