Offender Management Bill

It is hardly necessary to add to what has been said by my noble friend, who has set out the position very clearly. There will be the opportunity for conflicts of interest to arise under the new system and precautions must be taken against that happening; otherwise there may well be challenges in the court. My noble friend is entirely right: a company running prisons or an electronic tagging scheme might also be commissioned to write court reports. A recommendation that somebody should be tagged could, if implemented, result in money going into the pocket of the provider which could, in turn, lead to challenges in court as to the fairness of the trial. I invite the Minister to recognise that there is a problem here; if we are to avoid court challenges, something should be added to the Bill to make it plain that these conflicts of interest should not be allowed to arise.