Results 1-20 of 6,754 for speaker:Lord Bach

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: My Lords, the second consultation on the voting rights of convicted prisoners closed on 29 September 2009. The Government are carefully studying the responses and will set out the next steps in due course.

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: My Lords, our record on responding to the European Court is good, as has been acknowledged generally. This is a particularly difficult and complex issue, involving both what we should do and how we would do it when we allow some prisoners to vote. We have completed a second consultation on the enfranchisement of prisoners. It set out a range of options for prisoner enfranchisement based on...

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: I can confirm what the noble Lord, Lord Henley, has put to me—he is absolutely right. The European Court of Human Rights did not say which prisoners should be given the vote. The court held that the blanket ban was unlawful—of course we accept that—but expressly recognised that each member state has some discretion as to who should be given the vote. It is on that basis that...

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: My Lords, it has been a substantial time, although the date that the noble Baroness should go back to is October 2005, when the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights upheld the court's initial ruling. It is a substantial time but, as I have said, these are complex and difficult issues, about which the public also have views. It remains our view that the right to vote goes to the...

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: My Lords, we are looking not for a perfect solution but for a workable one—one that will work in practice. Of course we accept that we have to implement the judgment.

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: My Lords, there is a lot in what my noble friend says. The educational part of the work that goes on in prisons these days is much improved from what it was in the past. There is absolutely no reason why we should not do as he says.

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: On the second part of the noble Lord's question, we have undertaken no polling of that kind, but I should be interested to hear his views on that. As to the first part, I can only repeat that the Government are carefully studying the responses to the second stage consultation and will consider the next steps in due course.

Prisoners: Voting — Question (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: That sounds rather like the "Flying Dutchman" example referred to by the noble Lord, Lord Elystan-Morgan.

Written Answers — House of Lords: Courts: Family Cases (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: The Government's proposed measures to be included in the Children, Schools and Families Bill will strengthen the anonymity afforded to children and families involved in care proceedings by making it of indefinite duration and extending it to all persons involved in the proceedings. The Bill will also include provisions for the court to prohibit or restrict publication of information if it is...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Legal Services Commission (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: Claims for higher payments for legal aid work do not usually involve dishonesty and can arise from misunderstandings of the fee schemes, or failure to obtain sufficient evidence of clients' means. In these cases, the Legal Services Commission (LSC) recovers the monies due from future payments or by immediate payment of the full amount by the provider concerned. Contract sanctions or a formal...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Prisons: Extremism Unit (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: The Extremism Unit was formed in February 2007 to take forward and co-ordinate a programme of work to address risks of extremism and radicalisation in prisons. Following the creation of the new National Offender Management Service (NOMS) in 2008, the role of this programme expanded to cover offenders both in custody and under supervision in the community. Funding for the NOMS extremism...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Royal Prerogative (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: The Government believe that to place all the executive prerogative powers under specific parliamentary authority without detailed consideration of individual powers would considerably increase uncertainty, delay and the risk of legal challenges, to no significant advantage. Ministers are already accountable to Parliament for the exercise of all executive prerogative powers. The Government...

Written Answers — House of Lords: Young Offenders: Transfers (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: The transfer of prisoners is the responsibility of individual establishments in accordance with Prison Service instructions on the categorisation of prisoners and guidance issued by the NOMS chief operating officer. The decision about who is selected to transfer is made by the OCA department in each establishment (sometimes referred to as the "allocations" or "transfer" department)....

Written Answers — House of Lords: Young Offenders: Transfers (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: It has not proved possible to respond to the noble Lady in the time available before Prorogation and I will write once available.

Written Answers — House of Lords: Young People: Custody (12 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: The requested information in these questions is supplied in two parts. Data are not readily available back to 1992. (1) Table 1 in answer to HL5903 The following table gives, for England and Wales, firstly the numbers of under-18 year-olds in custody since 2000 and secondly the number in prison establishments since 2003 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 ...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Commons Reasons and Amendments (11 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: The noble Lord makes a fair point.

Coroners and Justice Bill: Commons Reasons and Amendments (11 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: I think that I already have done that. The noble Lord made a fair point. The point that I am trying to make is that this lady would not fall foul of this legislation, whether or not there was a freedom-of-expression clause.

Coroners and Justice Bill: Commons Reasons and Amendments (11 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: I am grateful. I was just about to move on to ACPO and what the noble Lord, Lord Dear, told us. He said in July: "However, my recent discussions privately with senior ACPO figures, including those most closely involved with issues of this nature, reveal two facts critical to our debate today: first, not only has ACPO not declared an official stance but it has not given an unofficial view in...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Commons Reasons and Amendments (11 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: I hope that I have answered my noble friend; he knows ACPO's position. I repeat that these offences relate only to threatening words and behaviour intended to stir up hatred. They were introduced because of the fact that gay men were often subject to attacks of this kind. That is why the legislation was introduced. Those uttering such words or exhibiting such behaviour should not have the...

Coroners and Justice Bill: Commons Reasons and Amendments (11 Nov 2009)

Lord Bach: My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in the debate on both sides of the issue—starting with the noble Lord, Lord Waddington. I will deal with a couple of preliminaries. I was interested that the noble Lord reaffirmed that, in this House at least, his party is on a free vote. That was not the case in the Commons the other day. The honourable Mr Dominic Grieve said: "We on...