Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that clarification; we are in violent agreement. The third sector plays a crucial role in the provision of offender management services, and that should not be ignored. The example that the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, gave of the housing advice service provided by Shelter in Leeds prison illustrates the point, and makes the point for the need for reform as well, because that service is there almost by accident. I would like to see every prison have a Shelter-provided housing advice service that is not dependent necessarily on the largesse of the public, which may or may not provide funding for such a service from one year to the next, but under contract, with proper standards that are connected to outcomes, working together with other services. That is what I mean by end-to-end services. I am concerned about the romantic view of the third sector and the voluntary sector, that they were better when they were small and cuddly. That is not the reality as I see it, and that is not the reality that we should be pursuing. The third sector’s role needs to be recognised, and the Bill provides a structure within which the third sector can work in partnership with both the private and the public sectors to deliver better outcomes for offenders and to reduce reoffending. Let me make a few more points about the third sector, which I am aware that the Government, the Opposition and the Liberal Democrats support, but which need to be underlined. The third sector should not be seen as a cut-price alternative to public sector provision. Involvement of the third sector must not be tokenistic in comparison to other sectors, including the private sector. As has been mentioned by a number of noble Lords, commissioning must be quality-driven, outcome-driven and value-driven, with long-term contracts and cost recovery. I absolutely support the remarks made by the noble Lord, Lord Filkin, on that. There should be clear consultation with prospective service providers to help to shape commissioning and the nature of future service provision, both nationally and in each region. In particular, judges need to be fully involved in the new offender management proposals. Perhaps the Bill could include a statutory requirement for the regional offender manager to consult the judiciary to ensure that sentencers are fully integrated within the new structure. I should also like to raise an issue, following a briefing from the charity Rainer, which was raised earlier. Clauses 30 and 31 would complete plans to abolish detention in a young offender institution for 18 to 21 year-olds. That proposal could mean that those young people could be locked up in adult prisons in future. I am concerned about that, and we should be concerned about it. Current failures in the treatment of young offenders in the criminal justice system will not be solved by simply decanting those offenders into adult prisons. I am aware that the Government are fully aware of that point, and they should await the conclusions of the review of young adult offenders before the current provision is removed, so that we know what it says. Fundamentally, no matter who provides probation and offender management services in the future, whether the private, public or voluntary/third sector, those services need to work in partnership. Probation services must become integrated with health, social care, housing, education and employment to drive up quality and to tackle the causes of crime, recidivism and reoffending. This Bill will move services in the right direction and I, for one, support that philosophy.