Offender Management Bill

I agree with everyone. Diversity is of great concern within the criminal justice system. The noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, knows that I share with him an anxiety about the way in which matters have developed and an absolute commitment to bring about creative and effective change in that area. Clearly there is room for improvement, but I know that the issue is taken extremely seriously by the Probation Service and that there has been concern that the progress and achievements of recent years should not be lost under the new arrangements. I can assure your Lordships that I am absolutely determined that they should not be. I believe that the new arrangements will assist us in this regard. The benefits of commissioning include, for example, a clearer focus on the offending-related needs of the offender, an innovative tailored service provision and the delivery of more relevant and equal services to offenders, irrespective of their race, gender or other characteristics, to achieve greater parity of outcomes. Today I attended a meeting of the national independent advisory group which was looking at guns and gangs and I had a clear conversation with Dr Derek Campbell. He made the point that organisations, particularly not-for-profit organisations, which specialise in dealing with black and ethnic minority people and those with disabilities want an equal opportunity to engage in work with such offenders. They have demonstrated the benefit of specific assistance: it improves outcomes. We are returning to an outcome focus. I assure Members of the Committee that we see that as critical. Commissioners will set out diversity expectations in the service delivery and the way in which those should be monitored. The commissioning framework to which regional commissioners and providers are currently working sets four priority areas, of which diversity is one. I can give the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, the assurances she seeks. We looked at what was requested by the CRE and decided that it was necessary to go further because we understood the import of what it wanted to achieve. The aim is to deliver greater equality of access to services provided for offenders in prison, or supervised in the community, irrespective of their race, gender or other characteristics; to achieve greater parity of outcomes where that is not the case; and to promote greater confidence in the criminal justice system among those groups where that is lacking or is weak. I turn to the specific amendments, beginning with that tabled in my name. Section 71(1) of the Race Relations Act 1976 requires a list of bodies specified in Schedule 1(a) to the Act to have regard to the need to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and good relations between persons of different racial groups. Probation boards are currently listed in the schedule. The purpose of our amendment is to require probation trusts and other probation providers other than the Secretary of State or a probation trust to adhere to the duty in Section 71(1), so there is no ““get out of jail”” clause so far as that is concerned. The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, and the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, have tabled an amendment along similar lines. I am grateful to the noble Baroness for doing so because it enables me to give her the affirmation she seeks and for us to have a useful debate. However, I hope that the Committee will accept that the government amendment is more robust and goes a bit further. Amendment No. 41 would simply enable the Secretary of State to use the contractual or other arrangements under Clause 3 to authorise or require a provider to adhere to the race equality duty. The government amendment, on the other hand, places the duty directly on the probation trust and any other provider other than the Secretary of State carrying out functions under contractual or other arrangements made under Clause 3(2). It offers greater clarity and more certainty about what is expected. I turn now with pleasure to the amendments tabled by my noble friends Lady Gibson and Lady Turner. The amendment seeks to apply the disability and equality duties to probation under the new arrangements. It is of course our intention that probation providers should adhere to the gender and disability equality duties under the new arrangements. This is one of a range of consequential amendments to secondary legislation—I should remind the Committee that this is currently in secondary legislation—which we will bring forward at the appropriate time prior to implementation using the power in Clause 35. We have chosen to deal with the race amendment on the face of the Bill because of the significant interest shown in this issue during its passage to date through both Houses so that Parliament can be reassured about the way in which we propose to handle the other consequentials. We envisage dealing with the gender and disability duties in a similar way. Perhaps I may reassure the noble Lord, Lord Low, that this is not the only opportunity I have had to listen and accept amendments. As we go through the Bill we will bring forward a number of other amendments which give voice to the concerns that have been raised in Committee and, indeed, when we went through the earlier stages of other Bills. This is a valuable opportunity and we believe that we have taken a sensible approach to this matter, one that demonstrates the unity of the Houses in their commitment to equality in matters of gender, disability and race. I strongly commend our amendment to the Committee. In so doing, I hope that I have given satisfaction, if not pleasure.