Violent Crime Reduction Bill

moved Amendment No. 7:"Page 2, line 17, at end insert—" ““(4A) Before making a drinking banning order, a court may receive a report from an appropriate officer about the proposed subject of the order, which contains information about the subject and, in particular, about whether there is any reason to suspect that he may be— (a) suffering from substance addiction (including alcohol dependence); (b) a person falling within section 1 of the Mental Health Act 1983 (c. 20) (application of Act: ““mental disorder””); or (c) suffering from any other recognised physical or mental illness or condition which could either— (i) affect his ability to restrict his intake of alcohol; (ii) cause him to engage in criminal conduct while under the influence of alcohol; or (iii) affect his ability to comply with a drinking banning order. (4B) In subsection (4A), an ““appropriate officer”” means— (a) where the proposed subject is aged 18 or over, an officer of the National Offender Management Service or a social worker of a local authority social services department; (b) where the proposed subject is aged under 18, a social worker of a local authority social services department or a member of a youth offending team. (4C) If the court determines that the proposed subject of a drinking banning order may be a person falling within subsection (4B)(a) to (c), the court shall not make a drinking banning order unless satisfied, on receipt of medical evidence, that— (a) his ability to understand and comply with the order will not be significantly restricted by reason of his being a person falling within subsection (4B)(a) to (c); and (b) compliance with the order, either alone or in combination to any other order or sentence to which he is subject, would not have a deleterious effect upon his mental or physical health.”” The noble Lord said: This amendment raises a very important issue, which I am sure the Minister will address. Is it intended that these drinking banning orders will be applied to rough sleepers who are alcohol or drug-dependent? Is it a mechanism for removing from the streets people who are suffering from alcoholism in one way or another? If that is the case, then a person suffering from that sort of illness is bound to breach any prohibitions that are put on him or her, and a drinking banning order would just be one step towards fines and subsequent imprisonment. We welcome the government amendments in the group commencing with Amendment No. 8, which deal with the introduction of approved courses to treat alcoholism, and that will be discussed in due course. But it seems to me that the introduction of the approved courses idea by the Government brings in a considerable refinement to the Bill as first put before another place. A major effect is that the drinking banning order will not be the crude and simplistic,"““short sharp shock to make people confront their behaviour””—[Official Report, Commons Standing Committee B, 13/10/05; col. 16.]," to use the words of Miss Hazel Blears on 13 October last year. It is an order intended to deal with people’s problems, as well as to give them a short, sharp shock. If the orders are to be tailored to deal with an individual by, for example, different prohibitions for different periods, as set out in the original Bill, by an order that a person should attend an approved course, or by the possibility that a particular prohibition can be terminated and so on, then it is necessary to have full and proper information about the individual before the court. Amendment No. 7 does not require a report in every case, but if unusual prohibitions are to be contained in the order, or if it deals with a person with an unusual personality, it is only sensible to have a report from an appropriate person, as defined. If, as I have said, the orders are imposed on people who are rough sleepers, surely a report from the Department of Social Services should be available to the court before it considers what prohibitions should be placed on that person. Further, when there is reason to think that a person may be suffering from drug or alcohol dependence, or any other recognised physical or mental illness, it is only sensible, as the amendment suggests, to have a professional medical view. The order that the judge who hears the application will make will be a matter for his discretion, and the prohibitions that he imposes will also be a matter for his discretion. Therefore, he should have all the available assistance from social services and the medical profession that are relevant to the case. I beg to move.