Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

Baroness Newlove Excerpts

Tuesday 7th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Newlove]

My Lords, I had no intention of speaking in this debate but having listened to noble Lords, especially the noble Baroness, Lady Finlay, I could not sit any longer. I am speaking because I truly support what is being said about sobriety testing and I ask the Government really to look at this. In the area in which I work, alcohol is my passion, because I am the victim of a crime—my husband was kicked to death in an alcohol-fuelled murder, so I am passionate about this subject. I am a practical person and not into statistics. The statistic that I want to look at is, what is the magic number? Are we really going to roll up our sleeves and tackle this? I welcome the amendment and am looking for support around the House. We need to consider the solutions in front of us and not keep waiting for further evidence. Let us do something not just to prevent having more murder victims but to help the young to have a healthy and socially responsible lifestyle ahead of them.

[Lord Harris of Haringey]

My Lords, I do not want to detain the Committee for long partly because I agree with virtually every word that all noble Lords who have contributed to the short debate have said. The speeches made by the noble Baronesses, Lady Finlay, Lady Jenkin and Lady Newlove, and the speech of my noble friend Lady Hayter encompass all the arguments.

I have to disagree, however, with one point made by the noble Baroness Lady Finlay, which was the dismissal of possible technical solutions. Quite fortuitously, after the debate on a similar amendment to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act, I met some manufacturers of equipment who, in passing, referred to equipment they have developed—I gather that three or four other manufacturers have done similar things—that enables remote alcohol monitoring. It would be wrong to dismiss that as an option. The equipment that I saw when I asked further about this—I understand that it has been shown to the Home Office, although I do not know the outcome of those discussions—clearly did not have all the disadvantages that the noble Baroness described.

I hope that the Government will respond to the views that have been overwhelmingly expressed in the Committee today and recognise that this point should be taken on board. This is a permissive proposal that will allow the pilots to take place. It is not mandatory either on magistrates or the police in terms of the action that they take. About 40 per cent of violent crimes have an alcohol component to them, so if this demonstrates that you can do something useful to reduce the level of alcohol-fuelled crimes, reduce the number of people who have to be admitted for longer periods or reduce the numbers at the revolving door into penal establishments, then it has to be in the interests of society as a whole. I hope that the noble Baroness who will respond to this debate has been briefed to say that the Government will support the scheme, and that they will either accept the amendment or table a suitable one on Report or Third Reading that will put this on to the statute book and enable these pilots to go ahead.