§ Lords amendment: No. 3, in page 39, line 27, after ("it") insert
§ (", or a corresponding earlier enactment,")
§ Sir John WheelerI beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said amendment.
The amendment seeks to address a gap in the Bill as drafted. Clause 15 restricts the remission granted under prison rules in respect of those convicted of scheduled offences and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five years or more; in such cases, remission is restricted to one third of the sentence. Clause 16 requires the court to order that a person imprisoned for a scheduled offence during a 448 period of remission must serve the unexpired portion of the sentence for his previous offence in addition to the sentence for the subsequent offence.
These two provisions are temporary. Clause 62 provides that in the event of the expiry—or cesser—of either provision, its operational effect shall continue in relation to an offence committed while the provision was in force. However, in the event of the expiry or cesser of clause 15 or 16, the intention would be that the expiry or cesser should affect only offences committed after that event. In other words, offences committed before the expiry or cesser of clause 15 or 16 should continue to be subject to those provisions. The clause does not quite achieve that result because it omits a reference to offences committed before the enactment of the provision—in other words, offences committed during the lifetime of a predecessor provision.
The current wording of clause 62 omits any reference to predecessor provisions. The amendment corrects that.
§ Dr. Joe Hendron (Belfast, West)I should like to speak to the Lords amendments on clause 52 and clause 54. My original intention was—
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerOrder. This Lords amendment deals with clause 62; we have already discussed Lords amendments to clause 52 and clause 54. The hon. Gentleman must confine his remarks to the Lords amendments to clause 62.
§ Lords amendment agreed to.