Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Bill

I welcome the amendment, particularly as a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Last year we conducted an investigation of community-based restorative justice schemes, looking at those in Andersonstown and Bangor. It was clear that while the schemes required some form of regulation, which the amendment will clearly provide, they were effective on the ground. That was because many of those involved had spent 30 or 40 years performing deeds that they now regretted—everything up to and including murder—and were now able to intervene early in the lives of young people, telling them ““Do not follow the path that I took””. We saw for ourselves the success of that programme. Reoffending rates were at least 10 times higher among people who went to prison than among those who had benefited from community-based restorative justice schemes. I hope that whatever we agree today—and I am sure that we will agree to the Government’s amendment—the aim is to make the schemes work rather than to limit their ability to work. And as well as being enabled to work within the letter of the law, they should be funded properly. That has not happened in the past.