HC Deb 14 October 1976 vol 917 cc755-6

Lords amendment: No. 48, in page 24, line 25, at end insert: triable by court-martial. ( ) Any such offence shall be treated as if it were an offence against a provision of Part II of this Act.

Mr. Wellbeloved

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.

Mr. Speaker

I suggest that it would be for the convenience of the House to consider at the same time Lords Amendments Nos. 49 to 56.

Mr. Wellbeloved

Again, all these amendments are quite innocuous, and, I believe, uncontentious. Some make minor but desirable improvements to tidy up the drafting, but perhaps I may briefly refer directly to Nos. 52, 53 and 56. Their effect is to specify more precisely the manner in which a parent or guardian, in certain circumstances, shall be required to attend the standing civilian court or the court martial. This is done by reference to rules of procedure in the case of the Army and Royal Air Force and, in relation to courts martial only, to the equivalent general orders for the Royal Navy, and also by reference to the relevant provisions in the Bill.

Also worthy of separate mention is Lords Amendment No. 55, which is designed to allow regulations to be made to provide for matters which, consequential upon any Order being made under the schedule, will require such regulations, and so as to allow regulations to be made in relation to specific cases or classes of cases.

An instance where this could be desirable is in respect of the community supervision order scheme which, as a simplified amalgam of the supervision order, the community supervision order and the probation order in the United Kingdom, covers a fairly wide range of ages. Thus, it might well be useful to be able to make separate provision in regulations to meet varying needs according, perhaps, to the age and type of offender. This will enable the community supervision order to be used in a flexible fashion so as to reflect, as far as possible in the circumstances, the practices in dealing with such offenders in England and Wales.

I commend the amendment to the House.

Mr. Ronald Bell

Amendment No. 54 may be impeccable, but I should like to know whether it is a novelty or merely applies to the procedure in the new civilian courts a provision for immunity which applies in courts martial. If so, it was an odd thing to have been forgotten when the Bill was drafted. If it is a straightforward parallel with what is already the law in relation to courts martial, I do not think that anyone would wish to object to it. If it is an immunity which will apply only to these new civilian courts, obviously we shall want to look at it more carefully.

Mr. Wellbeloved

I assure the hon. and learned Gentleman that it is a straightforward parallel, so no problem arises.

Question put and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords amendments agreed to.

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