On 10th January 2022, the House of Lords debated the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in the Report stage. Votes were held on amendments to the Bill, in which Bishops took part.
Votes: Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
Bishop of Leeds asks about recent statements on the rule of law by the UK
Following a government statement on Russian aggression towards Ukraine on 10th January 2022, the Bishop of Leeds asked a question on perceptions on attitudes regarding the rule of law in the UK:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, I note that the Statement refers several times to the rule of law, and I am delighted to hear the commitments made by the Minister and the Government. However, it has not gone unnoticed in the Russian press that there have been threats to the rule of law, not least by the Government here proposing legislation that might undermine international treaties. The Statement says:
“The free world must rise to meet the moment. Britain is stepping up and leading by example.”—[Official Report, Commons, 6/1/22; col. 170.]
That is not necessarily how it is seen elsewhere. Perhaps the Minister can comment on that. I do not ask the question to be awkward; I am simply concerned about it.
Continue reading “Bishop of Leeds asks about recent statements on the rule of law by the UK”Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Gloucester supports establishment of a Women’s Justice Board
On 10th January 2022, during a debate on amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the Bishop of Gloucester spoke in support of an amendment tabled by Lord Marks of Henley Upon Thames that would establish a Women’s Justice Board to address the needs of women within the criminal justice system:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I add my wholehearted support to this amendment. I am very grateful to the noble Lords, Lord Marks and Lord Ramsbotham, and the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, for their continued commitment to women in the criminal justice system. As bishop to prisons and president of the Nelson Trust, I am acutely aware, as I have said so often, of the need for a gendered approach to justice. The noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy, has just put that very powerfully.
Continue reading “Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Gloucester supports establishment of a Women’s Justice Board”Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Gloucester raises issue of threats to vulnerable women and girls
On 10th January 2022, the House of Lords debated amendments to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The Bishop of Gloucester raised the issue of vulnerable women being caught in “joint enterprise” scenarios involving weapons and given prison sentences, and supported amendments which would address this:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, I rise to support in particular Amendments 90H, 90J, 90K and 90L. As has been said, they are critical to ensuring that more vulnerable women are not drawn into the criminal justice system through the de facto joint enterprise element of SVROs. Probably like other noble Lords, I was shocked to read the briefing from Agenda, which states that analysis of
“109 joint enterprise cases involving women and girls”
shows that
“there was not a single case in which women and girls had handled a weapon; in 90% of cases they engaged in no violence at all; and in half of the cases they were not even present at the scene of the crime.”
Continue reading “Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Gloucester raises issue of threats to vulnerable women and girls”Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Manchester speaks in favour of amendments on Serious Violence Reduction Orders
On 10th January 2022, the House of Lords debated the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in the fourth day of the report stage. The Bishop of Manchester spoke in support of a group of amendments relating to the implementation of Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs):
The Lord Bishop of Manchester: My Lords, I support Amendments 90H, 90J, 95A, 95B and 95C, to which I have added my name. I also signal my support for other amendments in this group which also seek to control more tightly how serious violence reduction orders will operate. I draw your Lordships’ attention to my work on policing ethics, both for Greater Manchester Police and for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, as set out in the register of interests.
As the noble Baroness, Lady Meacher, has indicated, Amendment 90H seeks to ensure that an SVRO can be applied only when a bladed article or offensive weapon is used to commit an offence, not simply when such an item happens to be present and in the possession of the defendant. As the noble Lord, Lord Paddick, has indicated, as presently drafted, the Bill requires no substantive link between the weapon and the offence. An individual could, for example, commit a road traffic offence while driving home from a church picnic, with their used cutlery on the passenger seat next to them, and the prosecution could ask for an SVRO.
Continue reading “Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Bishop of Manchester speaks in favour of amendments on Serious Violence Reduction Orders”Bishop of Gloucester asks about access to academic eBooks
The Bishop of Gloucester asked a question on issues of access to academic eBooks on 10th January 2022, during a debate on the economic recovery of the bookselling industry and libraries following the COVID-19 pandemic:
The Lord Bishop of Gloucester: My Lords, as pro-chancellor of the University of Gloucestershire I am very aware that during the time of pandemic there have been issues with eBooks relating to university libraries. How will the Government address the current issues of excessive pricing, restrictive licensing and lack of availability of academic ebooks?
Continue reading “Bishop of Gloucester asks about access to academic eBooks”Bishop of Leeds asks about legal costs for postmasters affected by miscarriage of justice
During a debate on compensation for postmasters affected by the Horizon IT Scandal on 10th January 2022, the Bishop of Leeds asked whether legal costs were being paid for these postmasters:
The Lord Bishop of Leeds: My Lords, will the Minister say whether, following on from that question, those who are currently negotiating compensation with the Post Office for some form of redress are having their legal costs paid, or are they expected to pay them and then try to claim them back later?
Continue reading “Bishop of Leeds asks about legal costs for postmasters affected by miscarriage of justice”Church Commissioners Written Answers: Clergy Discipline
On 10th January 2022, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to questions from an MP:
Rachael Maskell MP (Lab): To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners
- whether the Ecclesiastical Committee has been kept informed of the progress of the review of the Clergy Discipline Measure.
- when a presentation of proposals to reform the Clergy Discipline Measure will be made available to members of the Ecclesiastical Committee.
Church Commissioners Written Questions: Clergy Discipline
On 6th January 2022, Andrew Selous MP, representing the Church Commissioners, gave the following written answer to a question from an MP:
Rachael Maskell MP: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what progress has been made with the Clergy Discipline Measure review.
Continue reading “Church Commissioners Written Questions: Clergy Discipline”Bishop of St Albans urges commitment to international responses to refugee displacement
On 6th January 2022, the House of Lords debated the issue of mass refugee displacement. The Bishop of St Albans spoke in the debate, stressing the importance of a global response to help refugees and displaced people and address the causes of displacement:
The Lord Bishop of St Albans: My Lords, I too thank the noble Lord, Lord Alton of Liverpool, for initiating this most important debate and for his excellent introduction, which has set the scene for us all.
We face not a static situation but one that is constantly changing. Since the start of 2020, we have seen the re-emergence of conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, bringing back the displacement that characterised the conflicts in the 1980s and 1990s. Ethiopia’s ongoing civil conflict has left just over 2 million internally displaced people in Tigray and a further 250,000 in the region of Amhara, according to the UN. We have seen the military coup in Myanmar, which has done nothing to improve—indeed, it has made worse—any prospect of resettling the estimated 745,000 beleaguered Rohingya Muslims resident in Cox’s Bazar, now the world’s largest refugee camp.
Continue reading “Bishop of St Albans urges commitment to international responses to refugee displacement”
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