§ Lords Amendment: No. 75, in page 38, line 17, after "Act" insert "as respects England and Wales".
§ Miss BaconI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
§ Mr. SpeakerWith this Amendment we shall be considering Lords Amendments Nos. 76–78, 80–88, 90–94, and 192–194.
§ Miss BaconThese Amendments change the name "Prison Licensing Board" to "Parole Board". They extend the provisions to Scotland and make a number of drafting changes.
§ Sir D. RentonStrictly speaking, the right hon. Lady is correct in saying that this group of Amendments makes a number of drafting changes, but there is one to which we should draw attention in order that we may follow in future the good example set on this occasion and which is not without precedent.
Sometimes Whitehall does not have the best ideas about the right phraseology to use about great national institutions. The precedent which leaps to one's mind was in 1940, when Whitehall thought they should be called the Local Defence Volunteers, and then Sir Winston Churchill said that they should be called the Home Guard. Now on this occasion 876 I am glad to say that instead of having the Prison Licensing Board we are to have the Parole Board. The conception of a parole board is one which my right hon. and learned Friends on the Front Bench have had in mind from the outset of the discussions on the Bill and I think that these drafting Amendments should be regarded rightly as the proud culmination of what they have thought right.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Subsequent Lords Amendments agreed to.—[Some with Special entry.]
§
Lords Amendment: No. 79, in page 38, line 36, at end insert:
and of any reports it has called for and any information whether oral or in writing that it has obtained
§ Miss BaconI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.
This Amendment causes Clause 48(3,a) to read:
the Board shall deal with the case on consideration of any documents given to it by the Secretary of State and of any reports it has called for and any information whether oral or in writing that it has obtained".The paragraph as originally drafted was too narrowly drawn, in that it might be held that the Parole Board would consider only such documents as the Home Secretary chose to send it in the first place, and that it could not ask for more information or, for example, obtain firsthand information from the prison governor or medical officer to help in reaching a conclusion. It was never the Government's intention that the Board should be precluded from asking further information, and it was always envisaged that there might be cases in which it would want to obtain information from a member of the prison staff either orally or in writing. The Amendment would put the matter beyond doubt.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Subsequent Lords Amendments agreed to.