Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
10:30 am
Witness
Tuesday 16th October
Until no later than 1.00 p.m.
Ministry of Justice; Home Office
Tuesday 16th October
Until no later than 5.15 p.m.
Magistrates’ Association; Probation Boards Association
Tuesday 16th October
Until no later than 6.15 p.m.
Police Federation of England and Wales
Tuesday 16th October
Until no later than 7.00 p.m.
Stonewall
Thursday 18th October
Until no later than 10.25 a.m.
Youth Justice Board; Children’s Society
Thursday 18th October
Until no later than 1.40 p.m.
Prison and Probation Ombudsman
Thursday 18th October
Until no later than 2.40 p.m.
Liberty
Thursday 18th October
Until no later than 4.00 p.m.
Local Government Association
(3) the proceedings on consideration of the Bill in Committee shall be taken in the following order: Clause 1; Schedule 1; Clause 2; Schedule 2; Clause 3; Schedule 3; Clauses 4 to 6; Schedule 4; Clauses 7 to 23; Schedule 5; Clauses 24 to 29; Schedule 6; Clause 30; Schedule 7; Clauses 31 to 35; Schedule 8; Clauses 36 to 48; Schedule 9; Clauses 49 and 50; Schedule 10; Clauses 51 to 53; Schedule 11; Clause 54; Schedule 12; Clauses 55 and 56; Schedule 13; Clauses 57 to 72; Schedule 14; Clauses 73 and 74; Schedule 15; Clauses 75 to 80; Schedule 16; Clauses 81 to 103; Schedule 17; Clauses 104 to 107; Schedule 18; Clauses 108 to 111; Schedule 19; Clause 112; Schedule 20; Clauses 113 to 124; Schedules 21 and 22; Clause 125; Schedule 23; Clauses 126 to 129; new Clauses; new Schedules; remaining proceedings on the Bill;
(4) the proceedings shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 7.00 p.m. on Thursday 29th November.
I welcome you, Sir Nicholas, and your co-Chair, Mr. O’Hara, to the Committee. You and I have served before as Chairman and Minister in my previous incarnation as Minister of State for Northern Ireland. You will recall that, on that occasion, the Northern Ireland (Offences) Bill received the unanimous support of myself and the Whip, and no one else on the Committee. However, I am sure that this Bill’s objectives will achieve a much greater consensus than that, and I look forward to our debate in Committee today.
We had, I hope, a good discussion on Second Reading and in the Programming Sub-Committee when the programme motion was agreed by hon. Members. I am pleased to see that, perhaps as part of a new consensus of government, the hon. Members for Broxbourne, for Ruislip-Northwood and for Kettering are sitting on the Government Benches, and I look forward to their votes with the Government on the matter. I am sure that the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood, who has the Whip, will not feel at all compromised by those matters in due course.
On Second Reading the hon. and learned Member for Harborough made some valid points that he will consider in Committee. As I recall, he unfairly declared the Bill to be rather like a plum-duff. Perhaps because of my working class background, I did not eat many plum-duffs in my childhood, but I am sure that it will prove to be a satisfactory meal for us all during the course of the debate.
The programme motion provides two full days for oral evidence, which is a new concept. This is the first opportunity that I have had, during the 20 or so Bills that I have taken through as a Minister or Whip, to see this new operation working, and I genuinely look forward to seeing how we can help to support the passage of the Bill and get some views from members of the Committee. I am particularly looking forward to working with my colleagues the Under-Secretary of State for Justice, my hon. Friend the Member for Liverpool, Garston and the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Gedling. We will be giving evidence very shortly to the Committee on those matters.
There is provision in the programme motion for nine other witnesses to give evidence to the Committee to help us with out deliberations on the Bill. As Members will see, the Magistrates Association, the Probation Boards Association, the police, Stonewall, Liberty, the Local Government Association, the Youth Justice Board and the prisons and probation ombudsman will all give evidence.
I should inform the Committee that my hon. Friend the Member for Tooting and the hon. Member for Ruislip-Northwood have discussed whether we can add additional witnesses, and particular mention was made of the need to include the Evangelical Alliance to give representations to the Committee on some clauses that will certainly create discussion and have already elicited an interesting level of correspondence to hon. Members. I am happy to agree to that suggestion if the Committee so wishes. If so, I will bring back a motion either this afternoon or on Thursday morning that will add the Evangelical Alliance to the list of witnesses and allow them to make representations accordingly.
I also offer my personal welcome to my hon. Friends the Members for Ealing, Southall and for Sedgefield. My hon. Friend will know that it has been a considerable time since a Member for Sedgefield last sat on a Committee of this nature. I know that both hon. Members will make valid contributions and, I hope, will view this as a valuable experience in coming to grips with some of the day-to-day matters of scrutiny in the House.
After we have taken oral evidence, the programme motion provides for 12 sittings for the usual, detailed, clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill. Because the Bill’s carry-over motion for the House has already been approved and the Gracious Speech will take place on 6 November, we will take a break for Prorogation and resume on 20 November, with the current end date of 29 November for the completion of the Committee’s work. While that is a relatively short amount of time, I hope that the Committee will work to that timetable and will be able to detail how it wishes to handle the Bill, according to the demands of the Opposition. The Government are happy to go at whatever speed Opposition Members—both official Opposition Members and the hon. Members for Cambridge and for Somerton and Frome—wish to participate.
To assist the scrutiny of the Bill, I wrote to you yesterday, Sir Nicholas, giving details of amendments for consideration in Committee that have been tabled before you today. I can give an assurance—I know that this is an issue with which you have some concerns—that, whenever possible, I will give as much notice as possible to the Committee of any Government amendments that may come forward. There are still some outstanding policy issues that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor gave notice of on Second Reading. We will deal with those, prior to the tabling in Committee, as soon as possible after the drafting instructions have been completed, so that hon. Members have an opportunity for further scrutiny.
Finally, it may help all members of the Committee if I advise them that we have divided the legislation broadly into select parts for myself and my colleagues to deal with. Parts 1 and 2 of the Bill will be dealt with largely by me; parts 3 to 6 of the Bill will be taken by my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Justice; and my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department will lead on the Home Office provisions contained in parts 7 to 11.
I look forward to a constructive and searching debate and to hon. Members’ contributions to the Committee. Given that all parties accepted the programme motion during discussions in the Programming Sub-Committee last Thursday morning, I commend the motion to the Committee.