Part of Criminal Justice Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 11:15 am on 27 February 2003.
Dominic Grieve
Shadow Minister (Home Affairs)
11:15,
27 February 2003
On the face of it, this is a sensible Amendment. The difficulty is the Committee's profound ignorance of the Scottish legal system—there may be exceptions to that, but the reality is that we do not know much about it, and even less now that it is devolved. I have one question. I assume that there is and will continue to be no difficulty in identifying a community sentence structure in Scotland that corresponds fully to that in England.
I have a slight anxiety. If a different system develops, somebody may one day seek judicial review on the basis that the punishment to which he had been sentenced was being implemented differently. I do not want to be too esoteric about it, but that could become an issue—one that we need to keep in mind. However, I assume that the Minister has a dialogue with the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Justice in the Scottish Executive.
As time goes by, the trend—I remember it being described by the Scottish judiciary—has been for a coming together of the English and Scottish criminal legal systems. That process has been going on for a long period. Indeed, it was encouraged by the Government, probably for that reason. With devolution one can see separation coming about. Indeed, it has been highlighted during our debates that certain parts of the Bill are not being applied in Scotland. On the question of jury trial, Scotland did not feature. As a result, there will be profound differences in procedure north and south of the border. When it comes to sentencing and implementation, given that sentences can be served north of the border, a close degree of conformity is going to be needed if the system is to work; otherwise, I apprehend that there will come a moment when someone will say that the court gave him a sentence that is being implemented in a way that is at such variance with the way that it is being implemented south of the border, that it should not be proceeded with. I should be grateful for the Minister's comments.
A parliamentary bill is divided into sections called clauses.
Printed in the margin next to each clause is a brief explanatory `side-note' giving details of what the effect of the clause will be.
During the committee stage of a bill, MPs examine these clauses in detail and may introduce new clauses of their own or table amendments to the existing clauses.
When a bill becomes an Act of Parliament, clauses become known as sections.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.
Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.
In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.
The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.