Police and Justice Bill

The noble Baroness has been very helpful in her response, but there is still a gulf between us. When she talks about the directions being used in extremis, that is one part of the equation. Even if there were a way of defining carefully on the face of the Bill what that situation would be, there is still the other aspect that was spoken to so well by the noble Baroness, Lady Henig, about the directions being delivered locally and not dealt with in a subjective way by the Secretary of State. So it is not the whole of the equation. It might be helpful if I indicate that, although I shall keep the opposition to Schedule 2 on the Marshalled List for debate on another day, the Minister has done enough to persuade me that I should not now divide on that, which I had originally intended to because I have such concerns about a range of issues in Schedule 2. On this particular group of amendments, however, the way that the Minister has offered discussions in the summer means that it would be wrong of me to divide when we have that debate.