Draft Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2022

Lord Mackinlay of Richborough Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2022 General Committees

[Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet) (Con)]

It is always a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Sharma. A couple of issues come to mind. Following on a little from the hon. Member for Hackney South and Shoreditch, there must have been a mischief that it was felt needed to be closed. I would think a precautionary principle is in play, and the Government have come to this conclusion—I think for the right reasons because it is the right thing to do—but there must have been worries about not the looseness, but the lack of checks in the system that have caused this SI to be laid.

Local authorities are the bodies responsible for asking for enhanced DBS checks. Will there be guidance from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Home Office or the Ministry of Justice about what level of previous criminality would be deemed to be a definite no? A drink-driving offence from 20 years ago or a shoplifting offence from 15 years ago would not cause the same concern as the offences that we are trying to highlight, where it would be obvious that people might be a risk to youngsters and families coming from Ukraine. Is there any guidance for local authorities about what is deemed to be an accepted—if there is such a thing—previous offence, or is it down to local authorities to manage on a one-by-one basis?

--- Later in debate ---

[Rachel Maclean]

That is a perfectly valid question, but I fear that the scope of this debate is very narrow and is about the exceptions in the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act. I was not the Minister responsible for the policy decisions. The right answer for colleagues who have raised valid points about the future of the scheme is probably to seek a Backbench Business debate—perhaps a Westminster Hall debate—so that the relevant Minister can come along and answer all those questions. It is not possible for me to answer them now, but I am happy to feed them back to my colleagues or to answer any correspondence on them.

The hon. Member for Lewisham West and Penge mentioned the fact that the scheme was initially going to run for a shorter period and that people are now coming to the end of that period, and asked what plans we have made for that. Again, it would be wrong for me to try to answer those questions as I am not the Minister with responsibility for those issues.

I very much hope that colleagues are reassured that the draft SI is an important part of the Government’s safeguarding responsibility, and I commend it to the Committee.

[Craig Mackinlay]

Could the Minister address some of the points that I raised?

[Rachel Maclean]

I am very happy to do so in writing, unless my hon. Friend would like to reiterate those points to the Committee.

[Craig Mackinlay]

I would be delighted to. Local authorities are in the driving seat when it comes to asking for the tests, but will any guidance come from the centre—be it from DLUHC, the Ministry of Justice or the Home Office—about what kind of former offence would be acceptable and pass muster, as it were, or is it up to the local authorities to make those decisions for themselves? I gave the example of a drink-driving offence from 20 years ago.

[Rachel Maclean]

I thank my hon. Friend for that aide-mémoire—it is very kind of him. We can certainly write with further detail, but I can assure him that we are talking here about a specific feature of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, which allows for exceptions to be made, and that decisions would be not be made case by case by local authorities—there is wider guidance on the whole scheme, the safeguarding measures and the suitability of families to be hosts.

We are talking here about making a change to the Act to provide that where a more sensitive role or activity is listed in the order—such as being a host for a vulnerable person fleeing war—greater disclosure of information that would otherwise be considered as spent is required. The rules that apply to determine what information is included—known as filtering—are quite detailed, and they include serious offences, such as serious sexual offences and others of that nature. I assure my hon. Friend that the regime is detailed, well established and in the interest of public protection. I hope that that answers his question, but he can feel free to probe further if not.

Question put and agreed to.

Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill

Lord Mackinlay of Richborough Excerpts

2nd reading & 2nd reading - Day 2
Tuesday 16th March 2021 Commons Chamber

[Craig Mackinlay (South Thanet) (Con)]

What a rare treat to be able to speak in the Chamber.

One of my colleagues said earlier that the primary role of Government is to keep people safe: to keep those who are the law-abiding majority safe, those who want to do the right thing and those who simply just want to get on with their lives. We made commitments in our 2019 manifesto on law and order. This substantial Bill fills many holes and codifies some loose ends of common law interpretations, but mainly it protects the public whom we are here to serve. There are a number of features in the Bill and I just want to highlight a few in the time available.

Whole-life orders, as the starting point for premeditated child murder, has to be right. The prevention of automatic early release of serious, violent and sexual offenders has to be right. The public, for too many years, have wondered of what madness we have had that that was not so.

The doubling of the maximum sentence to two years for assaulting emergency workers, again, has to be right. These people have worked hard for us over the past year. Too often, we hear stories of them being spat at and abused during the covid period. We have spoken about the protection of victims and witnesses over many years, but finally Kay’s law, as it has been called, will mean that victims will be able to play a part in the bail conditions that the police impose.

Strengthening powers to tackle protests that cause significant disruption to the public is the area that seems to have got a lot of people exercised over the past few days. What we saw at Clapham Common was an unedifying scene, but it was not a result of this Bill or where we are at the moment. It was a result of the draconian covid legislation that I have not supported throughout but, strangely, Labour has. This Bill does not attempt to stop protest—far from it, and I would not be supporting it if it were, because I quite enjoy a good protest.

Very importantly, the Bill criminalises trespass to tackle unauthorised encampments. I can imagine that hardly any, if any, hon. Members or right hon. Members in this House have not had communities that have had to bear the cost of such unauthorised damage, cost to the local taxpayer, and often a “couldn’t care less” attitude by those who conduct it. The Bill also backs up our significant commitment to deliver 20,000 new police officers, and some of the excellent work in disrupting county lines and action against drugs in general.

I will support the Bill this evening, and I am somewhat intrigued that Her Majesty’s Opposition are opposed to it at this stage, but there seem to be more flip-flops than on a summer holiday.