Thursday, December 9, 2021

Lords votes on Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill

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Members of the Lords began further examination of the Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill in report stage, on Wednesday 8 December.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill aims to make wide-ranging changes across the criminal justice system in areas including police powers, judicial procedures and offender rehabilitation.

Detailed scrutiny 

Report stage is an extra chance for members to closely scrutinise elements of the

bill and make changes.  

Proposed changes 

Members put forward changes (PDF)(amendments) to consider at report stage. 

The amendments cover a range of subjects, including:

  • sentences relating to assaults on emergency workers
  • the impact of custodial sentences on a child when sentencing a primary carer of a dependent child
  • making it an offence to photograph or video breastfeeding without consent
  • increasing police powers in relation to protests.  

Members speaking discussed subjects from the amendment list and voted on two changes to the bill.

Emergency workers

The first was on a change (amendment 1) to require a life sentence for the manslaughter of an emergency worker. This amendment has been referred to as 'Harper’s law'.

Members voted 211 in favour and 82 against, so the change was made.

Personal data sharing

The second vote was on a change (amendment 11) which ensures that disclosure of information by one public body to another does not contravene data protection legislation.

Members voted 88 in favour and 103 against, so the change was not made.

Get involved

Watch or read the debate

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) read a Lords Hansard transcript (part one and part two).

Explore further information

Read House of Lords committee reports on the bill:

Read background information on the bill in the House of Lords Library briefing.

Next steps

Report stage is scheduled to continue on Monday 13 December.

What's happened so far?

Committee stage day eleven: Wednesday 24 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider on a range of subjects, including:

  • police powers relating to protests

  • early identification of and intervention on stalking

  • adding online racial abuse towards footballers to the list of offences that can result in football banning orders.

Catch up on Parliament TV or read a transcript in Lords Hansard.

Committee stage day ten: Monday 22 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider on a range of subjects, including:

  • creating specific offences for street harassment and kerb crawling

  • allowing a minister of religion entry to a crime scene in order to perform religious rituals or prayer

  • ensuring that the police record the sex registered at birth and acquired gender, if appropriate, of victims and those arrested for a crime. 

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a transcript in Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Committee stage day nine: Wednesday 17 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider on a range of subjects, including:

  • increasing the maximum sentence for assault and harassment on retail workers
  • education and training for offenders
  • Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVRO's) relating to knife crime
  • rehabilitation of offenders addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Catch up on Parliament TV or read a transcript in Lords Hansard.

Committee stage day eight: Monday 15 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider on a range of subjects including:

  • the arrangements for the resettlement and supervision of prisoners serving sentences of Imprisonment for Public Protection (IPP)

  • maternity services in prisons

  • the impact of a custodial sentence on the dependent child, when sentencing a primary carer of a child

  • amending the Gender Recognition Act 2004 regarding those suspected or convicted of violent or sexual offences.  

Find out about all the issues members discussed: catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read the transcripts in Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Committee stage day seven: Wednesday 10 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider on a range of subjects including:

  • compensation for victims of crime
  • tariff reviews for those who commit an offence while under the age of 18.   

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a transcript in Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Committee stage day six: Monday 8 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider. They discussed penalties for causing death or serious injury by:

  • dangerous or careless driving
  • driving when under the influence of drink or drugs.

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a Lords Hansard transcript (part one and part two).

Committee stage day five: Wednesday 3 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider at committee stage. They discussed:

  • criminal trespassing
  • the deployment of drones and other new surveillance and weapons technology.

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a transcript in Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Committee stage day four: Monday 1 November

Proposed changes

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider at committee stage.

Sarah Everard

Following Sarah Everard’s abduction, rape and murder, members discussed a change to prevent a lone arresting officer to require a person subject to arrest to enter a vehicle or premises other than a police station.

Members also discussed changes on:  

  • personal data relating to hate crimes
  • bail for primary carers
  • pre-charge bail and post-charge detention of children
  • positions of trust offences
  • proportionality of the penalties for criminal damage to memorials. 

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a transcript in Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Committee stage day three: Wednesday 27 October

Proposed changes 

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider at committee stage and discussed the issues they raised.

Topics on the agenda for discussion included:

  • covering domestic and sexual violence within the definition of serious violent crime
  • the role of electronic communication in the exploitation of young people. 

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a transcript in Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Committee stage day two: Monday 25 October

Proposed changes 

Members put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to consider at committee stage and discussed:

  • the disclosure of data and information to the police in doctor-patient confidentiality and with local authorities

  • including housing authorities in the bill as key partners in protecting young people against gang violence

  • local authorities implementing crime prevention strategies in consultation with community stakeholders including young people's groups and NHS bodies. 

Catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a Lords Hansard transcript (part one and part two).

Committee stage day one: Wednesday 20 October

Proposed changes 

Members speaking on day one of committee stage put forward changes (PDF) (amendments) to be considered.

Members discussed changes on a range of subjects including:

  • the mental health of the police workforce
  • standards by which police driving is to be judged
  • tackling the criminal exploitation of children.

Find out about all the issues members discussed: catch up on Parliament TV (part one and part two) or read a transcript in House of Lords Hansard (part one and part two).

Second reading: Tuesday 14 September

Members debated the main areas of the bill at second reading, including:

  • police powers
  • extraction of information from mobile phones
  • domestic homicide sentencing
  • prison sentences for mothers
  • assaults on emergency and retial workers.

Some members also raised their concern about the size of the bill and the extensive use of delegated powers. 

Find out more about the issues discussed: catch up on Parliament TV . A transcript of the debate is available in Lords Hansard. 

Image: Creative Commons/Pixabay

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