Offender Management Bill

I think a number of Members of the Committee were quite enchanted by it. My noble friend says it is not an imprisonable offence, so the noble Viscount may feel assured by that. The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, is right about the restrictive way in which the measure is to be used. I hope I shall be able to reassure the noble and learned Lord, Lord Lloyd, that the proposed use is safe and satisfactory. It will enable us to test and, basically, taste and see. Protecting the public from the problem of sexual abuse is a matter that the Government have taken very seriously and given the highest priority. In fact, it has been given the highest priority by all of us engaged on this issue, irrespective of political party or the side of the House on which we sit. With the introduction of the multi-agency public protection arrangements, we have ensured that agencies work together to supervise offenders in the community, with greater resources directed towards those assessed as presenting a high risk of serious harm to the public. Although I hear what the noble Viscount says about some of the failings, he will recognise that there have been enormous improvements because we have been able to implement these macro-arrangements, which were not available before 1997 but are so now. I think that none of us would wish to remove them. We recognise that we have a responsibility, therefore, to continue to refine and develop the ways in which we manage sex offenders, particularly as new technologies become available. On 19 June last year, the Home Secretary commissioned a review of the management of child sex offenders, which is due to be published shortly. Among the range of measures aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse, it will recommend a trial of mandatory polygraph testing for sex offenders on licence in the community. As the noble and learned Lord knows, the polygraph is a device which measures changes in breathing, heart activity and sweating, all of which are known to be related to deception. We will use the polygraph to monitor whether offenders are engaging in risky behaviour or in behaviour which puts them in breach of their licence conditions. Between September 2003 and September 2005 the National Probation Service conducted a pilot study in which sex offenders on licence volunteered to undertake the polygraph test. The results of the pilot were published in December 2006. Nearly 350 sex offenders took part in the pilot as part of their supervision and treatment process. Examiners reported that new disclosures relevant to treatment and supervision were made in 79 per cent of first examinations and 78 per cent of re-tests, and nearly 30 per cent of these disclosures took place in the post-interview that followed the offender’s questioning while attached to the polygraph; in other words, after being challenged with the result of the test. Probation staff overwhelmingly found the polygraph results helpful in their risk assessment of these offenders. I emphasise that it is a risk assessment. The polygraph is a diagnostic tool among others that enables those tasked with managing the risk to better assess that management. But there is an issue—almost like a fly in the ointment—because, given that a self-selecting sample was involved in the pilot and there was no randomised control group for comparison purposes, it is not possible to attribute with any certainty the new disclosuresto the effect of the polygraph test. On average, only43 per cent of those eligible volunteered for testing, and we need to be concerned about what was going on with those who did not volunteer. We have listened to the helpful debates in the House of Commons and we believe that, if polygraph testing is to be introduced, we should do so cautiously, learning from the small-scale implementation. This will give us an opportunity to assess any problems of process as well as being clearer on the expected benefits. These clauses therefore introduce mandatory polygraph testing for the categories of offenders defined in the Bill who are subject to licensed release from prison having been sentenced to at least 12 months’ imprisonment. It will be piloted initially in three probation regions. We will commission a research study to run alongside the mandatory testing pilot, with a view to determining whether the polygraph test is efficacious in assisting the collection of useful evidence about offenders’ behaviour and whether it genuinely facilitates effective offender management without disproportionality affecting the rights of those tested. We think it is a sensible way forward. I say to the noble and learned Lord that the Secretary of State will have the power to issue clear procedural guidance or rules on this. We understand everything he says about safeguards, probity, the process and all the issues that will have to be grappled with. We must look at Article 8 of the European convention, consider each case individually and ensure that we are sound on those issues too. As I explained, polygraph tests will be required as a condition of prisoners’ licences on release from prison, so we will do that in an appropriate way. We want to establish whether information from the polygraph will provide offender managers with an additional risk management tool that is useful in its own right. We do not intend to use polygraph evidence in criminal proceedings against an individual who has taken a test. It is a diagnostic management tool that we hope will assist practitioners to come to better assessments of the risk these offenders pose, particularly if they are in the community. Only if it can be shown that polygraph testing is a useful and objective additional tool in assessing and managing the risk posed by sex offenders will we return to this House to seek an affirmative resolution to extend the mandatory testing to all probation areas. We anticipate that a study of this magnitude will take at least three years to complete, for all the reasons I have given. Given those safeguards, and bearing in mind the potential benefits of polygraph testing in protecting the public against the dangers of sexual abuse, I propose that Clauses 24 to 26 stand part of the Bill. I will pray in aid what I have just said when moving our amendment. I do not propose, unless asked by noble Lords to do so, to say much more. I invite the noble and learned Lord to withdraw his opposition to the Question that the clause stand part.