Crime and Policing Bill

Baroness Fox of Buckley Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd April 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Doocey (LD)]

My Lords, I will speak to Motion C1. I thank the Minister for Amendments 342C and 342D. I also thank the Minister and his officials for the time that they have spent with me during the passage of the Bill.

I am pleased that the Government have taken on board a number of the concerns that I have raised. Amendment 342C ensures that the guidance is now mandatory. The police must have due regard to it, and it must address alternative interventions. The Minister has confirmed that the police will be required to present evidence to the court on what alternatives were tried or considered and has also provided helpful clarity on the broader consultation process beyond youth offending teams. These are important technical steps towards the informed justice that I have sought.

However, it is a matter of regret that the Government did not feel able to go further. We debate these powers in the immediate wake of the Southport inquiry, where Sir Adrian Fulford identified a “fundamental failure” by agencies to take ownership of risk, and an “inappropriate merry-go-round of referrals”.

The Government argue that it would be premature to codify the inquiry’s lessons before a fuller review of its recommendations this summer. However, we have seen before how recommendations from vital inquiries, such as the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the Manchester Arena Inquiry, can be accepted in principle yet delayed in practice. The families in Southport deserve more than a watching brief. They deserve the certainty of law. I also hope that these concerns will be reflected in the Home Office guidance for youth diversion orders. I welcome the Minister’s offer to share the guidance in advance and trust that it will be as clear and unambiguous as he has indicated.

In light of the concessions made, and the Minister’s assurance on parliamentary oversight via the negative procedure, I am prepared to accept the Government’s position today and will not divide the House on Motion C1. However, let me be clear: this is not the end of the matter. We will watch closely for the guidance to be laid before Parliament. The Home Secretary has already admitted that past guidance failed because it was applied inconsistently. If the new guidance is lacking, or the Government’s response to the Fulford report is diluted, I will not hesitate to table a Motion to ensure that this House can fully debate those failings. We are legislating for powers designed to prevent mass-casualty tragedies so safety must be built on the full multi-agency picture, not on administrative hope.

[Baroness Fox of Buckley (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Clement-Jones, on pushing Motion A1, which I will be supporting.

After the previous ping-pong debate on the issue of on-the-spot fines by private enterprises, I was inundated with complaints about egregious harassment by these very bodies, these enforcement agencies. People were outraged at what they saw as an abuse of the system. I quote one, who said, “Not only you have have to, as you walk down the high street, look out for phone-snatchers, but you also have to look out for official muggers after your money, and then find out that they are employed by the contract. They are just as illegitimate and just as anti-social”.

I emphasise that this abuse of the public’s understandable frustration and concern about anti-social behaviour—and the Government’s completely correct focus on tackling it—is made worse by an enforcement regime that is discredited. That is why enforcement matters: if the legitimacy of the enforcement response is weak, it means that we are not tackling anti-social behaviour and the public just become cynical about the whole enterprise.