Clause 21
Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill
4:45 pm
David Hanson (Minister of State, Ministry of Justice; Delyn, Labour)
I hope this will not take too long, Mr. Cook. The amendment tabled by the hon. and learned Member for Harborough has ably anticipated mine. I hope that Government amendment No. 21 provides the clarification that his amendment seeks, namely that an offender may be given a referral order if he has previously been convicted on one occasion. It is the case that offenders are often convicted on one occasion for more than one offence and we do not wish to rule out such cases. I hope that there will be agreement across the Committee to the amendment.