Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (Amendment) Order 2007

rose to move, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (Amendment) Order 2007. The noble Lord said: The order, which was laid before the House on 21 May, seeks to make some minor changes to Schedule 6 to the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 for the purpose of clarifying the ““trigger offences”” applicable to the testing of persons for the presence of specified class A drugs, currently heroin and cocaine. The changes arise from omissions in the consequential amendments made to Schedule 6 by the Fraud Act 2006, which came into effect on 15 January this year. As part of its reform of the law on fraud, the Fraud Act repealed and replaced the existing array of ““deception”” offences, including the offence of obtaining property by deception under Section 15 of the Theft Act 1968, one of the trigger offences set out in Schedule 6. The reference to the offence of obtaining property by deception was consequently repealed and omitted from paragraph 1 in Schedule 6 as a trigger offence, and the general offence of fraud, under Section 1 of the Fraud Act, was added to the list of trigger offences in its place. Although slightly broader in scope, inclusion of the offence of fraud was necessary to capture the offending previously caught by the repealed offence. Unfortunately, those consequential amendments failed to take account of previous additions to Schedule 6 relating to attempted offences, and because of that oversight, failed to remove a reference to the attempted offence of obtaining property by deception and to provide for an attempted offence of fraud in its place. The order seeks to correct and clarify those omissions by substituting a new paragraph in Schedule 6 in respect of attempted offences, as set out in Article 2 of the order. While the changes are largely technical, they are nevertheless important and necessary from both a legal and practical perspective. The trigger offences set out in Schedule 6, especially those relating to acquisitive crime, are the offences which have been shown by research to have the clearest link with the misuse of class A drugs, particularly heroin and cocaine, which are the drugs that cause the most harm to users and the community. These offences trigger the drug testing of persons in police detention under Section 63B of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 as part of the drug interventions programme. Under the programme, persons arrested for or charged with a trigger offence are tested to help to identify those who misuse specified class A drugs. The individuals who test positive can then go on to be assessed and to access appropriate treatment and other support. It is estimated that the inclusion of attempted fraud as a trigger offence could result in just under 1,200 tests being conducted in police detention in respect of that offence each year. That takes into account numbers tested for the offence of attempted obtaining property by deception and an estimated 230 extra tests resulting from the slightly broader scope of the offence of attempted fraud. The trigger offences are also relevant in circumstances where persons who are released on licence or under a notice of supervision following a custodial sentence for a trigger offence may be given a drug testing requirement as part of their licence conditions or notice. The relevant provisions are Section 64 of the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 and Section 65 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991. Currently, the provisions are targeted at prolific and priority offenders who are known drug users who may revert to drug use on release. Monitoring their behaviour in this way helps to ensure that those who test positive can receive appropriate support and treatment. The number of persons released from custody who may be affected by the addition of attempted fraud as a trigger offence is expected to be very small. Nevertheless, its inclusion as a trigger offence will ensure that, where appropriate, a drug testing requirement can be applied as part of a condition of licence in the case of those released from a sentence of attempted fraud. With regard to any additional costs arising from the inclusion of attempted fraud as a trigger offence, we anticipate that they will be minimal and can be absorbed within existing capacity. Trigger offences and the drug testing arrangements to which they relate play an important part in helping to identify and direct drug misusing offenders into treatment and other support. That is reflected in the fall in recorded acquisitive crime which, since the onset of the drug interventions programme, has fallen by some 20 per cent. The order clarifies the trigger offences applicable for drug testing. I therefore commend the order to the Committee. Moved, That the Grand Committee do report to the House that it has considered the Criminal Justice and Court Services Act 2000 (Amendment) Order 2007. 19th report from the Statutory Instruments Committee.—(Lord Bassam of Brighton.)