Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (Programme) (No. 2) Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Ministry of Justice
Julian Huppert
Main Page: Julian Huppert (Liberal Democrat - Cambridge)Department Debates - View all Julian Huppert's debates with the Ministry of Justice
Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill (Programme) (No. 2)
Julian Huppert Excerpts(11 years, 1 month ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Damian Green)
I beg to move,
That the following provisions shall apply to the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill, in place of paragraphs (4) and (5) of the Order of 10 June 2013:
(1) Proceedings on Consideration and proceedings on Third Reading shall be taken in two days in accordance with the following provisions of this Order.
(2) Proceedings on Consideration–
(a) shall be taken on the days and in the order shown in the Table
(b) shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at the times shown.
Proceedings | Time for conclusion of proceedings |
|---|---|
New Clauses and new Schedules relating to the protection of persons from harm of a sexual nature or relating to violent offender orders. | 7.00pm on the first day |
New Clauses and new Schedules relating to Parts 1 to 6 or otherwise relating to anti-social behaviour; amendments to Parts 1 to 6; new Clauses and new Schedules relating to firearms; amendments to Part 8. | 10.00pm on the first day |
Remaining new Clauses and new Schedules, except those relating to the control of dogs; amendments to Parts 9 to 13. | 2.30pm on the second day |
New Clauses and new Schedules relating to the control of dogs; amendments to Part 7; remaining proceedings on Consideration. | 4.30pm on the second day |
(3) Proceedings on Third Reading shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 5.30pm on the second day.
I start by congratulating the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) on his appointment as the new shadow Policing Minister and wishing him well. I am sure that he and I will spend many happy hours debating this important issue. I wish him many happy years on the Opposition Front Bench.
The programme motion extends the time available for consideration on Report from one day to two days. Among the new clauses that have been tabled is new clause 5, tabled by my hon. Friend the Member for Oxford West and Abingdon (Nicola Blackwood) and co-sponsored by 67 other right hon. and hon. Members. It seeks to provide for a new child sexual abuse prevention order. The Government agree that the civil prevention orders under part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 are in need of reform and have therefore also tabled some substantial amendments on the issue.
Given the level of support for new clause 5 and the serious issues it seeks to address, it is right that the House should be afforded sufficient time to debate these provisions. The programme motion accordingly provides that we have until 7 pm today to debate the new clause and the associated Government amendments. Thereafter, it provides for the Bill’s antisocial behaviour and firearms provisions and the related new clauses to be considered on this first day on Report, while all other provisions, including those relating to schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000, extradition and dangerous dogs, will be considered tomorrow.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
I am glad that we have more time available for debate, but does the Minister share my concern that the debate on schedule 7 to the 2000 Act, which we are supposed to have tomorrow, along with many other matters, from the Opposition’s proposals to ban synthetic caffeine through to much else, have at most a two-hour slot until 2.30 pm? Is there any way we could save time on the Deep Sea Mining Bill and have more time to discuss those matters?
Damian Green
I do not agree with my hon. Friend that there is an unfair allocation of time, either between this Bill and others, as he mentioned, or within the provisions of the Bill. I think that we have achieved a fair allocation of time among the many important issues the Bill addresses. That should allow the House sufficient opportunity to consider both the Government amendments and others that have been tabled. As I have said, underlying the programme motion is the fact that we have extended the time the House has to consider the Bill on Report from one day to two days. I hope that the House will agree to the motion quickly so that we can get on to debating the many substantive issues before us.
Dr Julian Huppert (Cambridge) (LD)
I congratulate the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Jack Dromey) on his new role and on his powerful speech, which came across very well and covered issues that he clearly cares about. However, I do not agree with his factual interpretation. If we do not pass this programme motion, we will be left with the programme motion that we passed unanimously in this House previously, which means that we will have only the rest of today for debate. I am afraid that the outcome of his suggestion is that we would have only five and a quarter hours to continue the debate, and I hope that we will not take up too much of it with this discussion. I understand the reason for his proposal, but unfortunately it suffers from the fact that it would curtail debate. He made an important point about having time to discuss dogs, and I am pleased to see that two hours are protected for that purpose. If we voted against this motion, we would risk having no debate on that issue at all.
My concern about the programme motion relates to the section covering the period until 2.30 pm on the second day, which deals with a whole collection of new clauses and new schedules on matters other than dogs, with a maximum of two hours available for debate. They include forced marriage in Scotland, on which I will not claim to be an expert, court fees and compensation, and a collection of policing and offences issues, including several that I would like to raise about schedule 7 to the Terrorism Act 2000, which needs to be curtailed. There are a range of other issues about drugs policy and a section on extradition. For all that, we have available a maximum of two hours, which would be limited even further in the event of any statements or urgent questions. I can accept voting for this motion because I have not tabled an amendment, and nor has anybody else, that would protect that time. However, in the event of there being statements or other things that delayed progress, will the Minister make sure that we have time to debate these very important subjects? Will he at least discuss with his colleagues whether there could be an amendment to the programme motion tomorrow to ensure that that crucial time, which many of us care about, is protected?