I waited to see whether the Opposition spokesman would stand up, in which case I would not have bothered. However, I am one of the members of the Committee who has received two letters from the Prison Governors Association. I thought that everybody had. [ Interruption. ] They say that they have not. I want to ask the Minister whether he has had discussions with the PGA about this provision, and I want him to explain why he is not persuaded by its argument that this is a dangerous move.

To remind the Minister of the argument, if we approve clause 14, section 85(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 will be repealed. Section 85(3) was introduced to prevent private justice being dispensed in private prisons. It was seen as a safeguard that there would be a public sector presence in such prisons to dish out the punishments, so that if people were subject to punishment because of breaches of prison discipline, such as an in-sentence punishment of days to be served, loss of licence time, segregation, confinement in their cell or the use of mechanical restraints, such matters would be deliberated on and pronounced by a public sector representative called the controller. If we repeal that provision today, we will be permitting the private sector to dish out the punishment instead.

The PGA, which is not known for being a radical, publicly protesting body, has said that it is particularly concerned, because it feels that, when imposing a punishment in a prison, public accountability is an important issue and that such a function should fall within the public sector. The new provisions provide that there will be some monitoring by a public servant, but it will be left to the prison to impose its own punishments. I think that the PGA has introduced a good public policy issue, and since no one else stood up to raise it, I decided to do so.