Offender Management Bill

They are indeed important issues which need to be addressed. The right reverend Prelate properly pointed out that there are concerns about the core issues and their protection. The Minister directed him to Clause 4, but his point is still relevant to my amendment. I say to the right reverend Prelate that my amendment seeks to address the Bill as it is now. That is why I have pressed ahead with the amendment. That is relevant to the Minister’s argument. She says that I do not need to trouble myself about this matter now because the non-public sector is not yet giving advice to the courts, although it may happen in the future. She recognises that a conflict of interest may need to be addressed later. However, I am looking at the Bill as it stands. This is the only opportunity I may have to address good practice in the Bill. The Government have given an assurance that they will not seek to bring a statutory instrument before the House for three years, but after that it becomes open season, irrespective of the rigour with which the House may scrutinise an affirmative instrument. We would be entering uncharted waters with regard to contestability. I am very grateful to Members of the Committee for their support and for the caution that they exercised in what they said about contestability. The Minister says that in the future the process will be more transparent. However, the Government themselves argue that, given the necessity for commercial confidentiality with some of the contracts, they will not open up that process to parliamentary scrutiny and so there will be difficulties. I accept that one cannot, by any legislation, legislate away conflicts of interest. I also argue that one cannot by legislation move out of public life everything that is wrong in the world; but we all have a go at it. Otherwise, we would not be sitting here debating what is the more than 60th piece of Home Office legislation since 1997. We keep trying. In my fairly brief amendment, I am seeking to put some clarity in the Bill about a duty to avoid a conflict of interest. It is important and, on this occasion, I wish to test the opinion of the Committee. On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 48) shall be agreed to? Their Lordships divided: Contents, 114; Not-Contents, 94. Clause 3, as amended, agreed to. [Amendment No. 48A not moved.]