Victims and Witnesses (Scotland) Act 2014 (Consequential Modification) Order 2020

Lord Campbell of Pittenweem Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (LD)]

My Lords, there is no dispute that this legislation, in the form of a statutory instrument, should pass. What is more surprising, as has just been pointed out by the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, is that it has taken so long to come before us. I associate myself with his request for some transparency as to why that should be.

For part of my professional life, I worked very closely with the police, alongside, as it happens, the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, who is to speak after me, in the prosecution of serious criminal offences in the High Court of Justiciary in Scotland. But my appreciation for the police is based on a simple proposition. The police are the first line of defence of our community and community values. Of course, that defence has been most evident in the responsibilities that the police have had to ensure that the terms of the lockdown are properly observed.

We have heard, not least in the debate in the other place, that that responsibility is subject to the ever-present risk of life and limb. In particular, I draw attention to the eloquent discussion of that matter from my honourable friend the Member for North East Fife Wendy Chamberlain—happily now my successor—who, of course, served in the police herself and who comes from a family with a long tradition of police service.

I come back to where I began: just exactly why did it take so long? As the noble Lord, Lord McConnell, pointed out, money has been lost as a result. Was it a political difficulty or some problem of officialdom? As he pointed out, £1 million simply has not been available for the purpose for which it was intended. The Scottish Parliament is always asking for new powers. It would have a stronger case for doing so if it was able to show that such powers as it has been given are expeditiously operated.

Two other points occur to me. One is that, when asked for an estimate of how many applications might be made for a restitution order, what was said in the debate in the other place was that there will be somewhere between 250 and 500. There was no factual basis for that estimate. It has great significance when one comes to consider just how much might have been and will be achieved. At the same time it was said in the other place that it was expected that the average value of a restitution order would be £350. Your Lordships can do the arithmetic: at 250 a year it is £87,500, and at 500 it is £175,000.

I have two last questions that I think are important. What assessment has been made of the impact on the welfare of the individuals, or the families of individuals, against whom such an order might be made? I have in mind the particular difficulties that we all know about in universal credit. It would be helpful to have some understanding of what assessment of impact has been available.

My other point, which I offer as an argument for not passing the order, is that it is a little difficult to understand whether the restitution order is a punishment or designed to be a raiser of revenue. Given the circumstances, it is not difficult to reach the conclusion that it is actually neither. That is a matter for some further consideration.