Motoring Offences Review

Countess of Mar Excerpts

Thursday 7th July 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Faulks]

The noble Lord makes an important point, because enforcement is critical; simply having an offence and a penalty is not enough. Of course, these issues are for local authorities with budget restraints, but nevertheless the point is an important one.

[The Countess of Mar (CB)]

My Lords, what is the position of two cyclists who crash into each other head-on in a cycle lane, as happened in London on Monday?

[Lord Faulks]

Not a happy position is probably the case, I think. Of course there are all sorts of potential offences that they may or may not have committed, depending on the facts of the case, and no doubt they might even consider some kind of civil action, depending on the conduct of the respective cyclists.

Criminal Justice and Courts Bill

Countess of Mar Excerpts

Monday 27th October 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Deben]

My Lords—

[The Countess of Mar (CB)]

I am sorry to remind the noble Lord, but this is Report and nobody should speak after the Minister except the person winding up.

[Lord Pannick]

I am very happy if the noble Lord wishes to clarify a matter. He does not; so be it. For my part, I remain troubled by this matter. I continue to think that it is important. I am not going to pursue it tonight but no doubt there will be other opportunities at some stage to do so. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Offender Rehabilitation Bill [HL]

Countess of Mar Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord McNally]

Of course, part of the problem is that it is described as a risk assessment by journalists. As I said before, a variety of exercises is carried out by the project development team, using various combinations of some of the figures that the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, plucked out—in fact, it was a third source because they came from a leak to a journalist to the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, to the House. So I ask the House to decide how accurate they are.

Of course, the Opposition cry, “Tell us”, but they went through similar exercises on big projects when they were in government. They realised that this was work in progress and it remained part of the management team’s work-in-progress tools. It is not a document that would give help to anybody in terms of what the noble Lord is talking about as risk. It is not about that kind of thing; it is about looking across the piece to see where the emphasis of work and development has to go.

[The Countess of Mar]

My Lords, before the noble Lord sits down, following his comments about his noble friend Lady Hamwee’s remarks about the probation service, he twice at least used the phrase “the probation service” in his speech. Can he say what he was covering in that phrase? In addition, has he not considered that a major stumbling block is the fact that we do not know how much this is going to cost? My noble friend Lord Ramsbotham and the noble Lord, Lord Beecham, both said that we need to know the cost. The Minister has made no mention of the cost.

[Lord McNally]

We are working within a very strict budget. Because we have other commitments as far as the overall expenditure of the department is concerned, we have also said that we will be spending a little less than the £1 billion that is spent on probation at present. We believe that with our experience of piloting other schemes we can bring that down. But that will unfold as we test against the market. One of the reasons why we cannot give the precise figures is that we will be going into negotiations with commercial operators who would very much like to know in advance what our baseline would be, along with our other financial operations. We know the figures in broad terms and, as we have said before, while this will make some savings, it is the flexibility, the hard bargains that we were able to drive with the private sector, and the efficiencies that we will introduce which will bring the costs down.

Yes, we all use the term “probation service” rather loosely. What my noble friend Lady Hamwee drew attention to was that there is no definition of it in statute, and therefore she was warning the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, of a possible defect in his amendment in calling it as such.

Defamation Bill

Countess of Mar Excerpts

Tuesday 5th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Lester of Herne Hill]

My Lords, I am sorry to interrupt my noble friend, but—

[The Countess of Mar]

My Lords, this is Report, and the noble Lord has had his say.

Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Countess of Mar Excerpts

Wednesday 9th February 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rennard]

I understood that an intervention on a matter of clarification was allowed. My point is that the criteria of the Boundary Commissions are clearly established and therefore not likely to be subject to future legal challenge. Interestingly, the amendment contains wholly new criteria regarding viable constituencies and considerations of a wholly exceptional nature.

[The Countess of Mar]

The Companion says that noble Lords may make a brief intervention in order to clear up a point. The noble Lord is making a speech.

[Lord Rennard]

My Lords, I think I was briefly clearing up the issue, which I have done.