"My Lords, this cyberattack and its result have exposed the lamentable insecurity of the Legal Aid Agency data systems. The ramifications are serious. The personal information that goes into legal aid applications and is held by legal aid providers includes much highly confidential material, which can be used by criminals …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, limiting recalls is welcome; but these are very short sentences. During the 28-day period, will there be any attempt at rehabilitation or to find out what went wrong and what can be done to help? Will there be any follow-up? The noble Lord, rightly, supports electronic tagging. Have …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, before I come to the substance of the debate, may I make one more plea to the Government? I agree with the noble Baroness, Lady Chakrabarti, and others in their trenchant criticisms of the Bill. I conclude—and I invite the Government now, even at this late stage, to …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, I have spoken at length on my amendment in the last group. My amendment here is to suggest, as I believe is completely uncontroversial, that sentencing guidelines about sentencing reports must promote greater use of such reports as part of sentencing. Whether that is a matter for the …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, my two amendments in this group, Amendments 15 and 18, cover two separate topics. The first relates to the public sector equality duty and seeks to provide that:
“Nothing in this section shall require the Council to issue guidance about pre-sentence reports that is not consistent with its …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, this group of amendments raises some interesting and quite difficult points. Amendments 9, 10 and 17 were introduced by the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, and also proposed by the noble Lord, Lord Wolfson of Tredegar. On first reading, they appear to set out, albeit in a more elegant …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, does the Minister agree that the problems highlighted by the right reverend Prelate’s Question are compounded by the prison overcrowding crisis? The need to use whatever space is available on the estate, wherever it may be, hampers access to suitable training courses, disrupts family and community ties, of …..." Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames - View Speech
"My Lords, last week the Minister promised a “seismic shift” to improve professional standards across the Prison and Probation Service. He described reports of bullying, discrimination and harassment as