Violent Crime Reduction Bill

My noble friend Lord Shrewsbury has given notice that he objects to Clause 23 standing part of the Bill within the proper context of wanting to raise a debate about the failure of the consultation process. Already in Part 1, much of what I have been saying has been to emphasise the importance of consultation working effectively and engaging with all those who will be affected by the legislation, so that they feel the outcome is fair and equitable and will want to take the measures forward. I understand my noble friend’s difficulties with Part 2 and his frustration with the way in which the Government have gone ahead on this matter. As he said, the consultation was launched in May 2004 and we know that there have been in excess of 4,000 responses. He said that, as he understood it, the results had not yet been analysed, but I seem to recall that at Second Reading the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, said the responses had now all been read and analysed and that the Government were considering how to proceed. When the Minister comes to respond, I would be grateful if he could say whether he understands that those responses have now been analysed. I was concerned that the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, went on to say:"““A summary of the responses will be published in due course””." She did not even dangle in front of us that carrot of ““soon”” or ““very soon””, although ““very soon”” would be expecting an awful lot from the Home Office. No, I will not be nasty tonight. Or perhaps I will be later on—who knows? Of course I understand and sympathise with the noble Baroness’s view expressed on Second Reading that the Government have,"““a duty to act immediately when it becomes apparent that steps are needed to protect public safety””.—[Official Report, 29/3/06; col. 847.]" I know that my noble friend agrees with that. He is not trying to undermine public safety, but it is right to ask the Government to justify their actions in the Bill against the background of the less than persuasive statistics that have been highlighted throughout our debates and those in another place, and the Government’s failure to publish any summary of the consultation responses before reaching Committee in this House. After all, they have had 24 weeks since First Reading in this House in which to make that progress. I hope that the Minister will today announce a timetable which will give us access to the analysis of the Home Office responses. I also hope that he will confirm that what the noble Baroness, Lady Scotland, said on Second Reading has taken place and that there has been an analysis. We need to see that before the Bill leaves this House. At the moment, Part 2 does not resolve any confusions that arose when the consultation was going ahead—in many ways, it exacerbates them.