Offender Management Bill

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that reply and I thank all those who contributed to this helpful debate. I hope that we shall have time for some informal discussions on this issue before we return to the Bill at Third Reading. This debate has shown clearly the importance of thinking about local initiatives by local voluntary organisations. There are, among the subtexts of the debate, some who see England as a corporation in which strategic planners structurally change what has to be done from the centre and everything is done for profit. We all know that this is an area in which idealism and altruism are shown by dedicated individuals—often awkward sods doing things locally. However, they are the most innovative in finding ways of dealing with obstinate reoffenders, persistent and prolific offenders and others. That is what we wish to ensure is not lost as we move towards a mixed economy of this sort. I wish that we had more information on how the Nordic states do this. I constantly regret the extentto which Ministers look at the American model of contestability and do not look at how well it is done in a number of European countries. They manage to maintain prison populations less than half the size of ours who are increasingly diverse in ethnic origin and so forth but without our levels of reoffending. This has been a helpful debate and I thank the Minister for her generous response. I think the missive which I received was still warm from the copier when I opened the envelope. It was very much a last-minute affair and we need to reflect rather more on it. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.