Offender Management Bill

My Lords, the noble Lord has put the Government’s case very well: the system is not working well, so we will give it to the Secretary of State to do and then it will work. However, the National Association of Probation Officers makes the point that crime is mostly local, and people expect the solutions to come locally. They will trust a local system much more than a central one. In fact, very often the local system worksbetter; of course it does—we know the problemsat the moment—but my noble friend’s group of amendments includes a fallback position for the Secretary of State. She has pointed out that, if the right thing does not happen, the Secretary of State can go into action. Give the local system a chance, then bring in the Secretary of State. I do not want to keep referring to Scotland, but there is a basic assumption in the Scottish legislation that everything happens locally because the functions of the Probation Service are carried out by a department of local government, the social work department. There is no thought in Scotland of a central solution like this. That is much more likely to work. I see what the Government are trying to do; it is rather characteristic of them: ““If we give it to the Secretary of State, who, after all, is operating on behalf of the people, everything will be all right””. I do not think it will. My noble friend has made a good compromise, in a way, in her group of amendments, giving the Secretary of State a fallback position. I hope the House will support this.