My Lords, I plan to be brief. At the introduction, the Bill made provision for amendments to the early release scheme under the Northern Ireland (Sentences) Act 1998, with the effect that a person convicted of a Troubles-related offence could, in future, apply for immediate release from prison, regardless of the amount of time served, thus removing even the current two-year minimum requirement. This reflected a focus on reconciliation. But a number of Members in the other place, as the Bill was going through, questioned the rationale behind this approach, arguing that it would not encourage people who may have information to come forward and provide it in seeking immunity. This is a very fair and reasonable challenge, and one which was also raised by a number of interested groups and parties during the engagement that I have been extensively carrying out since the summer. I have therefore carefully reflected on this, and I am pleased to bring forward an amendment that will address this issue and, in the Government’s view, strengthen the Bill. Under these amendments, only certain categories of people will be eligible for the early release scheme in future. These are people who were convicted before the establishment of the Bill’s conditional immunity scheme as well as people who were convicted after it but following a prosecution that began before.
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The amendments achieve our objectives by amending the definition of “qualifying offence” to exclude convictions other than those under these two categories. The rationale for excluding those convicted after the establishment of the scheme, following a prosecution initiated by the commission, is that such individuals will have had the opportunity to engage with the commission and to provide a full and truthful account of their involvement in exchange for immunity. In future, those individuals will be liable to serve their full prison sentence if convicted, subject to normal rules around release on licence. For those still able to apply to the early release scheme, the minimum two-year requirement—the so-called accelerated release scheme—will continue to apply.
This approach gives us a better chance of maximising the amount of information we obtain from people who engage with the commission, through ensuring that those who choose not to engage with it and are subsequently convicted would be liable to serve their full sentence. To further strengthen the incentives to engage, I am also tabling an amendment that would increase the financial penalty for failing without reasonable excuse to comply with a request for information from £1,000 to up to £5,000.
I contend that these amendments significantly strengthen the Bill. They provide clear incentives to co-operate with the commission and clear sanctions for those who do not co-operate and might subsequently be convicted. I beg to move.