MINOR AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 13 April 1994)

HC Deb 13 April 1994 vol 241 cc384-90 384

§ Amendments made: No. 186, in page 137, line 3, at end insert—

§ 'Poaching: increase in penalties

§ .—(1) The Game Act 1831 shall be amended as follows.

§ (2) In section 30 (trespassing in search or pursuit of game)—

(a) for the words "level 1" there shall be substituted the words "level 3"; and
(b) for the words "level 3" there shall be substituted the words "level 4."

§ (3) In section 32 (searching for or pursuing game with a gun and using violence, etc.), for the words "level 4" there shall be substituted the words "level 5."

§ (4) The Game (Scotland) Act 1832 shall be amended as follows.

§ (5) In section 1 (trespassing in search or pursuit of game)— 385

(a) for the words "level 1" there shall be substituted the words "level 3"; and
(b) for the words "level 3" there shall be substituted the words "level 4."

§ (6) In section 6 (penalty for assaults on persons acting under the Act), for the words "level 1" there shall be substituted the words "level 3."

§ (7) The amendments made by this paragraph shall not apply to offences committed before this paragraph comes into force.'.

§ No. 187, in page 137, line 7, at end insert—

§ 'Poaching: forfeiture of vehicles

§ . After section 4 of the Game Laws (Amendment) Act 1960 there shall be inserted the following section—

§ "Forfeiture of vehicles.

§ 4A.—(1) Where a person is convicted of an offence under section thirty of the Game Act 1831 as one of five or more persons liable under that section and the court is satisfied that any vehicle belonging to him or in his possession or under his control at the relevant time has been used for the purpose of committing or facilitating the commission of the offence, the court may make an order for forfeiture under this subsection in respect of that vehicle.

§ (2) The court may make an order under subsection (1) above whether or not it also deals with the offender in respect of the offence in any other way and without regard to any restriction on forfeiture in any enactment.

§ (3) Facilitating the commission of the offence shall be taken for the purposes of subsection (1) above to include the taking of any steps after it has been committed for the purpose of—

(a) avoiding apprehension or detection; or
(b) removing from the land any person or property connected with the offence.

§ (4) An order under subsection (1) above shall operate to deprive the offender of his rights, if any, in the vehicle to which it relates, and the vehicle shall (if not already in their possession) be taken into the possession of the pace.

§ (5) Where any vehicle has been forfeited under subsection (1) above, a magistrates' court may, on application by a claimant of the vehicle, other than the offender from whom it was forfeited under subsection (1) above, make an order for delivery of the vehicle to the applicant if it appears to the court that he is the owner of the vehicle.

§ (6) No application shall be made under subsection (5) above by any claimant of the vehicle after the expiration of six months from the date on which an order in respect of the vehicle was made under subsection (1) above.

§ (7) No such application shall succeed unless the claimant satisfies the court either that he had not consented to the offender having possession of the vehicle or that he did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that the vehicle was likely to be used for a purpose mentioned in subsection (1) above.

§ (8) An order under subsection (5) above shall not affect the right of any person to take, within the period of six months from the date of an order under subsection (5) above, proceedings for the recovery of the vehicle from the person in possession of it in pursuance of the order, but on the expiration of that period the right shall cease.

§ (9) The Secretary of State may make regulations for the disposal of vehicles, and for the application of the proceeds of sale of vehicles, forfeited under subsection (1) above where no application by a claimant of the property under subsection (5) above has been made within the period specified in subsection (6) above or no such application has succeeded.

§ (10) The regulations may also provide for the investment of money and the audit of accounts.

§ (11) The power to make regulations under subsection (9) above shall be exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

§ (12) In this section, "relevant time", in relation to a person convicted of an offence such as is mentioned in subsection (1) above, means the time when the vehicle was used for the purpose of committing or facilitating the commission of the offence, or the time of the issue of a summons in respect of the offence.."'.

§ No. 349, in page 138, line 12, at end insert—

386

§ 'Firearms: increase in penalties

§ .—(1) In Part I of Schedule 6 to the Firearms Act 1968 (punishment of offences under the Act)—

(a) in the entry for section 5(1) (possessing or distributing prohibited weapons or ammunition), in the entry in the fourth column specifying the punishment on conviction on indictment, for the words "5 years" there shall be substituted the words "10 years"; and
(b) in the entry for section 5(1A) (possessing or distributing other prohibited weapons)—

(i) in the entry in the fourth column specifying the punishment on summary conviction, for the words "3 months" there shall be substituted the words "6 months"; and
(ii) in the entry in the fourth column specifying the punishment on conviction on indictment, for the words "2 years" there shall be substituted the words "10 years."

§ (2) In Schedule 2 to the Firearms (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, in the entry relating to Article 6(1) (which makes persons convicted on indictment of certain offences relating to prohibited weapons liable, among other penalties, to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 5 years), in column 4 for the words "5 years" there shall be substituted the words "10 years."'.

§ No. 203, in page 139, leave out lines 8 to 12.

§ No. 202, in page 141, line 26, at end insert—

§ 'Fraud cases: preparatory hearings . In section 7 of the Criminal Justice Act 1987 (preparatory hearings for certain fraud cases), in subsection (1), for the words "seriousness and complexity" there shall be substituted the words "seriousness or complexity."'.—[Mr. Maclean.]

§ Mr. Michael
I beg to move amendment No. 76, in page 143, line 39, to leave out from 'below' to end of line 42.
I shall not speak at length in view of the hour, but it would be remiss of us not to deal with the important issue of pre-sentence reports. The Minister who attended the Committee will know of the considerable anger that was expressed about the fact that amendments were tabled at a very late stage—amendments that had not been the subject of consultation with those who deal with pre-sentence reports and the business of probation.
There had been no consultation with the Central Council of Probation Committees, either, or with the Association of Chief Officers of Probation. The National Association of Probation Officers opposed the amendments and there was also concern and opposition on the part of the Justices' Clerks Society.
That led us to table amendments Nos. 76 and 77, which would exempt offenders under the age of 18 from the provisions on pre-sentence reports. The Bill provides that the courts will no longer have to obtain a pre-sentence report before passing a custodial or community sentence on an offender if they consider that obtaining such a report is "unnecessary".
The principal reason for requiring courts to consider pre-sentence reports before passing a custodial sentence was summarised in the 1990 White Paper, "Crime, Justice and Protecting the Public", as follows: The purpose of requiring the courts to consider a report by the probation service when a custodial sentence is contemplated will be to provide the court with detailed information about how the offender could be punished in the community, so that option can be fully considered.
It seems that on the basis of a few conversations during his travels around the country the Minister came to the conclusion that that could be cast to one side.
The adverse effects of custody on young people, and the high reconviction rates for young people released from custody, make it especially important that it is used only when other options have been carefully considered and, for 387 good reasons, rejected by the court. That should not be a matter for disagreement across the House. The Home Office's own figures show that 82 per cent. of juveniles leaving prison service custody are reconvicted within two years.
Without up-to-date information of the kind available in a pre-sentence report, courts could impose sentences on young offenders harsher than might be justified in the circumstances, or indeed—to mention one of the possibilities that seem to concern Conservative Members more—sentences that are too short to protect the public from an offender who poses a risk of serious harm. Courts may also miss the opportunity to sentence an offender to a community sentence of a kind that can effectively tackle problems and change the attitudes underlying his or her offending.
It is important that the court should have the right information before it, and a full understanding of the reasons why an offender has committed offences, so as to take the right decision and give the right punishment to deal with that particular offender and that particular offence.
The importance of such information in selecting the best way of dealing with young offenders was underlined by the findings of the recent Policy Studies Institute survey, "Persistent Young Offenders", published this year. That showed that persistent young offenders frequently lead chaotic, disrupted and traumatised lives, often involving severe family problems, experience of abuse, exclusion from school, homelessness and—increasingly often in modern society—drugs. That is why the Opposition have tried to require the Government to introduce a proper national strategy for dealing with drugs, and especially to target young offenders within such a strategy.
Young offenders' circumstances are liable to rapid change. That in itself is a reason why it is inadequate to depend on a report that, although recent, may not be up to date. Careful attention to up-to-date information when making decisions about the treatment of offenders is essential if they are to be helped to avoid a downward spiral made worse by the effects of the criminal justice system operating in the wrong way, and not working as it was intended to work.
The type of information that can be made available, and that is extremely relevant to decisions, concerns the circumstances of the individual. For instance, family circumstances can change rapidly and there can be a crisis in the family. There should be information about the attitude of the offender to the victim, including whether there is remorse or a lack of it. There should be information about whether the offender has successfully completed previous non-custodial sentences. In my experience in both youth and adult courts, the report showing what has happened and what decisions have been made about an offender is frequently not up to date when the court comes to take a decision. Often it is the report prepared by the probation service that provides to the court information that is crucial in that it is up to date and understands precisely the circumstances of the offending. Information on the success or otherwise in completing non-custodial sentences, or breaches of or failure to respond to such sentences, should be before the court before decisions are taken.
388 Information about the offender's attitudes and characteristics which are relevant to the risk of future offending and the likely seriousness of any future offences should be available. The House should ensure that information on the seriousness of possible offences and the impact on victims is available to the court, especially in relation to those under 18.
There is a danger that the continual fluctuations—there have been changes in the past three Criminal Justice Bills—in the amount of information that is available to the court in dealing with offenders undermine the system. That should not be allowed to happen, especially in relation to those aged under 18. I hope that the Minister will tell the House what consultations he has undertaken; he was invited in Committee to undertake consultations with the probation service, with the Central Council of Probation and After-Care Committees, with those who have the responsibility of trying to make the system work, with the magistrates and with the Justices' Clerks Society. He should have undertaken those consultations because, as we said in Committee, we found out in the 48 hours before the Government's amendment being debated that all those organisations were very concerned about the amendment and had not been properly consulted.
The importance of dealing properly, accurately and in a targeted way with those aged under 18 is, to a great extent, the key to the way in which we prevent young offenders from turning into persistent adult offenders. That should be a major target of the House and of the criminal justice system as a whole.
I should have liked to have spoken for longer because these issues are extremely important. I have some experience, both as a magistrate and as member of a probation committee. It is wrong for the amendments, which were tabled at so late a stage, to brush aside careful consideration of these pieces of information, which are important not only to target the behaviour of the offender, but to ensure that the courts are able to do their job of protecting the public in the future and of reducing the likelihood of reoffending.
For those reasons, I commend the amendments to the House. I hope that the Minister will accept them as a modest step backwards from the extreme situation to which he took us in Committee. I hope that he will explain to us whether he has accepted the invitation for proper consultation, which had not been accepted before he moved amendments in Committee and which was needed before the House contemplated such a severe change in the method of dealing with reports in court.

§ Mr. Maclean
I have listened carefully to the hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth (Mr. Michael). Of course, I greatly respect his experience as a magistrate. The more I listened to him, the more convinced I became that there was not much between us on the issue, although there was a small point of principle. I am afraid that I must tell the hon. Gentleman that that is enough to lead me to say that I cannot accept the amendments.
The amendments would have the unhelpful effect, in the case of offenders aged under 18, of removing the limited discretion that the Government intend to give the courts to dispense with a pre-sentence report. The requirement in the case of juvenile offenders that the courts must have regard to a previous report on the offender concerned in all cases involving an offence triable summarily—or an either-way case—before they may exercise their discretion to dispense 389 with the requirement to obtain a pre-sentence report has been imposed by the Government precisely because we recognise that special considerations apply in the case of juveniles and because the courts must have proper regard to their welfare requirements. The effect of the constraints that we have imposed on the courts' discretion in the case of juveniles will be to ensure that in every case the courts will have regard to a report on the offender. That will provide the necessary safeguards for juvenile offenders who have been sentenced to custody or to a major community sentence for an offence triable summarily on either-way cases.
2.30 am
The restrictions imposed by the amendments will, I believe, limit the sentencing power of judges and magistrates unnecessarily and in an unacceptable way. In the case of juvenile offenders, the court will invariably have a report before it and, if it contains the infonnation that the court needs, I say to the hon. Member that there is no reason why a new pre-sentence report should be required.
Of course, I assure the hon. Gentleman that the new arrangements will be kept under review to ensure that they work satisfactorily. I am convinced that they will. Of course, we shall want to keep them under review and, in the process of going round the country and consulting others, I shall ensure that we take any views into account. In view of those assurances and the fact that there is not a great deal between us, I hope that the hon. Gentleman will agree to withdraw his amendment.

§ Amendment negatived.

§ Amendments made: No. 352, in page 144, line 44, at end insert—

§ 'Fines

§ .—(1) Sections 18 and 20 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (which relate respectively to the fixing of fines and financial circumstances orders) shall be amended as provided in sub-paragraphs (2) and (3) below.

§ (2) In section 18—

(a) for subsection (1), there shall be substituted the following subsection— "(1) Before fixing the amount of any fine to be imposed on an offender who is an individual, a court shall inquire into his financial circumstances."; and
(b) in subsection (3), after the word "fine" there shall be inserted the words "to be imposed on an offender (whether an individual or other person)".

§ (3) In section 20, in subsections (1), (1A), (1B), (1C), (2) and (3) for the words "a person" and "any person" there shall be substituted the words "an individual" and "any individual".

§ (4) In section 57(4) of that Act (application to local authorities of power to order fines to be paid by a parent or guardian), paragraph (b) shall be omitted.

§ (5) The amendments made by this paragraph apply in relation to offenders convicted (but not sentenced) before the date on which this paragraph comes into force as they apply in relation to offenders convicted after that date.'.

§ No. 354, in page 144, line 44, at end insert—

§ 'False statements as to financial circumstances . After section 20 of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 there shall be inserted the following section—

§ "False statements as to financial circumstances.

§ 20A.—(1) A person who is charged with an offence who, in furnishing a statement of his financial circumstances in response to an official request—

(a) makes a statement which he knows to be false in a material particular;
(b) recklessly furnishes a statement which is false in a material particular; or
(c) knowingly fails to disclose any material fact, 390 shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale or both.

§ (2) For the purposes of this section an official request is a request which—

(a) is made by the clerk of the magistrates' court or the appropriate officer of the Crown Court, as the case may be; and
(b) is expressed to be made for informing the court, in the event of his being convicted, of his financial circumstances for the purpose of determining the amount of any fine the court may impose.

§ (3) Proceedings in respect of an offence under this section may, notwithstanding anything in section 127(1) of the 1980 Act (limitation of time), be commenced at any time within two years from the date of the commission of the offence or within six months from its first discovery by the prosecutor, whichever period expires the earlier.".'

§ No. 43, in page 145, line 16, at end insert—

§ 'Sexual offences

§ .—(1) In section 31(1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1991 (which defines, amongst other expressions, "sexual offence"), for that definition, there shall be substituted the following definition—

§ "sexual offence" means any of the following—

(a) an offence under the Sexual Offences Act 1956, other than—

(i) an offence under section 12 or 13 of that Act which would not be an offence but for section 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, or
(ii) an offence under section 30, 31 or 33 to 36 of that Act;

(b) an offence under section 128 of the Mental Health Act 1959;
(c) an offence under the Indecency with Children Act 1960;
(d) an offence under section 9 of the Theft Act 1968 of burglary with intent to commit rape;
(e) an offence under section 54 of the Criminal Law Act 1977;
(f) an offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978;
(g) an offence under section 1 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 of conspiracy to commit any of the offences in paragraphs (a) to (t) above;
(h) an offence under section 1 of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 of attempting to commit any of those offences;
(i) an offence of inciting another to commit any of those offences;".

§ (2) The amendment made by this paragraph shall apply in relation to offenders convicted (but not sentenced) before the date on which this paragraph comes into force as it applies in relation to offenders convicted after that date.'.

§ No. 44, in page 146, line 14, at end insert—

§ 'Anonymity of victims of certain offences

§ .—(1) In section 2(1) of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992 (offences to which that Act applies), after paragraph (e) there shall be inserted the following paragraphs—

§ "(f) any conspiracy to commit any of those offences;

§ (g) any incitement of another to commit any of those offences.".

§ No. 175, in page 146, line 18, leave out from first 'the' to end of line 19 and insert `substitution, for the words from "or the powers" to the end, of the words "and, where it confers a power on the court, shall not apply in proceedings instituted before the coming into force of that provision.".'—[Mr. Maclean.]