Sentencing Bill

Baroness May of Maidenhead Excerpts

Report stage
Tuesday 6th January 2026 Lords Chamber

We would welcome a discussion about how to use that knowledge and expertise to help with the re-engineering of the system that will be brought in to replace OASys, and the sooner the better. In summary, the commissioner is keen to work with the Minister, his team and officials, and the Probation Service to try to upskill and re-engineer the way in which perpetrators are assessed for risk before they are potentially released, and she is keen to do this as quickly as possible.

[Baroness May of Maidenhead (Con)]

My Lords, I support Amendments 82, 83 and 86, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool. I start, if I may, with a point that I made earlier in the debate on Amendment 25. The Government have a strategy on violence against women and girls. They have a clear commitment to reduce violence against women and girls. It seems to me, therefore, that the Government should be looking to make sure that they in no way inadvertently increase the risk of violence against women and girls. This aspect of the Bill—the fact that a perpetrator who has been released, breached their licence by making contact with the victim and is then recalled, could then be automatically released after 56 days—is such a potential loophole, because that individual is highly likely in those circumstances to go back to the victim and potentially further abuse them.

The amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Russell, are time-limited. It is recognised that the Government are increasing the capacity of the system to make risk assessments of individuals, but those programmes are not entirely in place at the moment. There is the potential for the Government, by accepting these amendments, to close that loophole and further enhance the ability to prevent violence against women and girls.

I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Russell, said about his conversations with the Minister and his expectation, or concern, that perhaps he might not immediately leap to his feet and accept these amendments. I want to pick up one of the points about working with those in the field who are experts on these issues. It is only because of the Domestic Abuse Act that we have a single definition of domestic abuse that is now used across the whole of government. It is a comprehensive definition of domestic abuse, because domestic abuse comes in many different forms. Sadly, many of those in the criminal justice system do not yet fully understand all forms of domestic abuse. It is one of the issues that I know the Government will still have to deal with in making sure that the police, prosecutors, judges and probation officers all understand the panoply of issues that constitute domestic abuse.

It is important that, if the Government are not willing to close this loophole by accepting these amendments, they work with experts in the field to make sure that those who are being trained to risk-assess perpetrators are able to do so in the full knowledge and understanding of what constitutes domestic abuse.

[Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I support the amendment tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady May, on her words and her fantastic editorship of the “Today” programme on New Year’s Day, where she highlighted the problems of domestic abuse.

This amendment would make a significant difference to the safety of victims. We are making progress in seeing victims coming forward and, when they do, protecting them. Victims live with the fear that their perpetrator will contact them at any time. The Probation Service is doing an excellent job, most of the time, but change and training take time, especially to embed themselves, and, as has been witnessed, without proper training, devastating consequences can occur.

My noble and learned friend Lord Garnier stated that it is all about risk and how to assess it. This amendment is easy to incorporate, is easy to carry out and could put a significant safety valve in the system while the necessary training is put in place. I ask the Minister to try to see in his mind that this would be a good thing to do. When I was sitting on that Bench, every now and again an amendment to a Bill would come forward and I would think, “This really could work”, but I was always being put off, either by the Bill team or by the department. Occasionally, I took it into my own head and did something off my own bat. I was then told, when I left the Chamber, “You’re making government policy. That’s not what you’re meant to do”. But I did not get the sack, so it was worth doing.