Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, am I right in thinking that the 1991 Act implemented the proposals of the committee, which I had the honour of chairing, for reforming the parole system and provided for the release of those serving sentences of four years or less at the 50 per cent stage?
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, I realise that the hour is getting late. But, like the noble Earl, Lord Russell, there is a fundamental principle behind the amendments proposed by my noble friend Lady Blatch, and I am delighted to see that the Attorney-General has been good enough to attend to reply to this debate. I did not take part in the Committee stage and therefore I want to set out, I hope briefly, what I...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, surely the argument against the possibility of such a merger is that the tasks of the Chief Inspector of Prisons and of the Chief Inspector of Probation are, by their very nature, different. I accept that the criminal justice system must be considered as a whole, but the duty of the Chief Inspector of Probation is to deal with those services that provide for the punishment and...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, I, too, support the amendment. Like the noble Lord, Lord Harris, I have been a Home Office Minister. I cannot understand why the Home Secretary is so keen to have the power to appoint and impose chief probation officers. In Committee the Minister said, and repeated regularly, that the whole purpose of the Bill is to have a national probation service locally delivered, presumably by...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, I support those who have spoken to the amendment. As the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, said, sentencing and punishment will not achieve their aim unless they are directed at rehabilitating the offender so that he is less likely to re-offend. I realise that the words "the reduction of re-offending" are on the face of the Bill, but I cannot see the argument against including as one of...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, when the Minister introduced the amendment, she referred to the history of discussions about grammar schools over the past 25 years. As someone who had a part in that history, perhaps I may say that I notice and accept that on the face of it the Labour Party appears substantially to have changed its position. Perhaps I may remind her that in 1979 the purpose of the first Bill...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, I accept entirely everything said by my noble friend Lord Windlesham in relation to the seriousness of football hooliganism. However, do I understand the Minister to suggest that this new power will enable a police officer at an airport to remove the passport of an individual who has no previous convictions of any kind, and prevent him travelling merely on a "suspicion" (to use the...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, in Committee I expressed my total opposition to the clause and do not renege from that. Its effect is to impose the removal of benefit on an allegation of breach, rather than on the finding of the court--which principle is novel and unacceptable. I read with great care the Minister's reply in Committee but remain unconvinced by her arguments. She said that the Government are merely...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: One of the advantages of Committee stage when one has not taken part in the Second Reading is that one has had an opportunity to read the speeches made on that occasion. All I can say is that, having read the speeches of my noble friend Lord Windlesham, the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Lincoln, and the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, I agree with every word that each has...
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, should the BBC stand by its present intention not to cover this event, will the Minister undertake to remind the BBC that many of us who have, throughout our time in politics, supported the principle that the BBC should be funded by a licence fee on the basis that the BBC is a national body may now have reason to consider changing our support?
Lord Carlisle of Bucklow: My Lords, can the Minister say whether it is still the view of the Government that prison works?