Serious Crime Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 26: 26: Schedule 1, page 46, line 25, at end insert— ““Robbery using an offensive weapon or firearm An offence under section 8(1) of the Theft Act 1968 (c. 60) where it is alleged that, at some time during the commission of the offence, the defendant had in his possession a weapon specified by the Secretary of State under section 141(2) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 (c. 33), or a firearm or imitation firearm (as defined by section 57 of the Firearms Act 1968(c. 27)).”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, with this amendment I shall also speak to Amendment No. 27. Again, these amendments are brought back in order to enable the Government to keep to a commitment that was made in Committee. When I moved these amendments then, I was trying to add to the list of serious offences in Schedule 1 the offence of armed robbery committed with firearms. I tabled the amendments at that stage in probing mode, and my real objective then was to ask the Government to justify the inclusion of some crimes in the list and the exclusion of others. At that stage, the noble Lord, Lord Bassam, made the point that the Government were consulting ““stakeholders””, as they call them, to ensure that the schedule should reflect the offences for which it would be appropriate in all circumstances to place an order. At col. 776 of Hansard on 14 March, the Minister accepted that there was considerable merit in my amendments. He said that although he could not accept the drafting of the amendments at that stage, he would give them careful consideration, which is why I have brought them back. In Committee my amendment did not cover the use of a wider range of weapons, such as knives and machetes. My amendments today do that; they are broader. I have extended the range of the amendments to meet the points that were made not only by noble Lords in Committee but also, prior to that, by Mr John Letizia of the British Bankers Association, to whom I am very grateful for his helpful briefing about the extent of the dangers faced by banking personnel from armed robbery, including with weapons other than firearms. What are the results of the Government’s further consideration about which offences should be in Schedule 1, and what changes will be made before the Bill leaves this House? Are they intending to bring forward their own amendments at Third Reading to cover this specific offence and any others? I beg to move.