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

Lord Davidson of Glen Clova Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd June 2020 Lords Chamber

[Lord Davidson of Glen Clova (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the order. Like the previous modification order of the 2014 Act, which came before the House in 2019, this order is certainly laconic. The effective language amounts to some 38 words. None the less it is of significance to police officers and staff in Scotland, to whom the benefits are directed. We support the order in both its terms and its intent. As the Minister observes, it provides, in the form of restitution orders, welcome additional support to those who, in the course of their duties, are at very real risk of assault and injury.

The Minister has eloquently described the recent circumstances confronting the police in Scotland. They have been tested by these changed circumstances, and have met the test. I am gratified to hear that the police in Wales have also met the test produced by these circumstances, as the noble Baroness, Lady Wilcox, pointed out.

My puzzlement that this order has taken so long to come before the House is shared by the noble Lords, Lord McConnell, Lord Campbell and Lord Naseby, and the noble Baroness, Lady Barker. It may be of interest to recall how this has come about. Like the allied order that provides for the victim surcharge scheme, this desirable innovation for Scotland was announced by the Scottish Government way back in 2013, and, as with the victim surcharge scheme, there has been a delay of years—seven years, as has been pointed out—in the introduction of restitution orders in cases of police assault.

I understand that the responsibility to notify the need for both orders lay with the Scottish Government. The noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, explained that in the past fairly useful meetings between Her Majesty’s Government and the Scottish Government had taken place. I assume that these meetings did not place in this case, or this problem would have been identified.

In introducing the 2014 Bill on 6 February 2013, the then Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice described these police restitution orders as “key proposals”, which were

“vital to improving the experience of victims and witnesses”.

The initiative to introduce such orders received praise internationally from police unions. A restitution fund was to be set up and administered by the Scottish Government. The fund was declared in the Scottish Government’s policy memorandum to be intended to

“support and promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing of police officers and staff”.

No one would dispute the laudable objectives thus set out, but—as every other speaker on this matter has asked—why has it taken seven years to introduce the necessary legislation for this vital, “key” initiative to promote the health and well-being of police officers and staff in Scotland? From what the Minister has said, I gather that the restitution fund has not been set up. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, pointed out that such a fund would make a real difference, and identified the real value that it could produce.

I recognise that the Minister is not responsible for this delay; nor are, I assume, Her Majesty’s Government. None the less, is he aware of any reason for this remarkable delay? Did the Scottish Government have second thoughts about their initiative? That seems unlikely, given the laudable aims and the process of consultation that had taken place before the Bill was introduced. Were they concerned that an additional penalty visited on persons might be impecunious? I thought this unlikely, given that the penalty would have been imposed by the court, which, one might think, is well able to assess affordability.

As the noble and learned Lord, Lord Hope, and the noble Lords, Lord Wei and Lord Addington, identified, other questions arise as to how the orders might be imposed. The noble Baroness, Lady Northover, and the noble Lord, Lord Naseby, raised the important point about why no impact assessment was carried out. I would be interested to hear the answer to that.

Could the reason for this apparently mysterious delay simply be that the Scottish Government forgot, or somehow lost interest in, this initiative? That seems a remarkable notion. In any event, can the Minister enlighten the House? I take it that he agrees that any Government who overpromise and underdeliver risk both creating an impression of incompetence and losing the people’s trust.