Offender Management Bill

moved Amendment No. 100: 100: Clause 14, page 9, line 13, after first ““is”” insert ““employed”” The noble Viscount said: I offer my apologiesfor being slightly late for the resumption of the Committee. I shall speak also to AmendmentNo. 102. Clause 14 gives prison custody officers in contracted-out prisons and secure training centres powers to detain visitors where it seems that the visitor has committed an offence under Sections 39 to 40D of the Prison Act 1952. Both amendments seek to ensure that the new provisions in Part 2 meet adequately the intentions of Clause 14 as a whole. They are probing in nature because, if implemented, they would prevent the detention of any visitor to a prison, which I should like to make clear is not our intention. Rather, they seek to tease out exactlywho will fall under the ambit of the provisions of Clause 14. If accepted, the amendments would ensure that only those entering the prison as visitors to those held in custody or those working as employees of the prison would be subject to the new detainment laws. Currently, the wording of the Bill is so widely drawn that it would apply to representatives of the voluntary sector as well. The Minister in another place made it clear that the provisions of Clause 13, which was then Clause 11, were targeted at ““criminality via visits””. I hope that the Minister will be able to provide further insight into this definition. Can he also confirm whether he expects representatives of the voluntary sector to be included among those who may be stopped, searched and detained for up to two hours? We are keen to ensure that, while the most appropriate security measures are in place, this specific function of the Bill is clarified. I beg to move.