Offender Management Bill

I am grateful to all noble Lords who have spoken in support of the amendment. As the noble Baroness, Lady Linklater, said, we must seek to deliver best practice the whole time and not allow worst practice. We heard some examples of worst practice that still unfortunately prevail. The noble Baroness, Lady Stern, referred to the independent monitoring board’s report on Huntercombe, where there were extremely late arrivals and on one occasion two young people were delivered at 1.15 am. The cynical might, in reading such a report outside, say that in their experience some young people habitually do not go to bed until 1.15 am, and might ask, ““So what? What is wrong with that?””. If young people lead such a disrupted way of life which gets them into an offending pattern, it is important that when they come within the criminal justice system they are not shown that they will be permitted to continue that way of life. They need to be given a more structured way of life, which has to begin the moment they leave court. That is not assisted if they are treated, as they sometimes are, with disrespect as soon as they are put into the transport system. I hear what the Minister said; I have no doubt that she is committed to ensuring that the conditions are as good as may be within the system. I acknowledge what she said: improvements have been made but not enough. The Minister says that in any event the amendment is not necessary because, as she correctly points out, Schedule 1 to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 already imposes a duty on custody officers in carrying out their escort functions to attend to the well-being of persons in their care. All of us have moved on in many respects since 1994. This is not new Labour marching towards new horizons; society’s expectations of how people are treated in custody have moved on. Our attention to the needs of children in particular has changed over the years, and my amendment highlights the importance of treating young offenders in a special way and safeguarding their welfare. Despite what the Minister says, this is an important issue that needs to be addressed. My honourable friend Mr Garnier made it clear in another place that we do not consider this to be merely a debating matter. He could not resolve it in the other place because the timetabling did not allow a resolution. I therefore felt that it was right to consult those who are concerned with youth justice matters before the matter was debated today. They gave their support to the amendment, and I gave a commitment to seek a resolution in Committee if at all possible. I like to keep to my commitments and, because this is an important matter, I wish to test the opinion of the Committee. On Question, Whether the said amendment(No. 125) shall be agreed to? Their Lordships divided: Contents, 85; Not-Contents, 112. Clause 32 agreed to.