Sentencing Bill

Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames Excerpts

3rd reading
Monday 12th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Justice (Lord Timpson) (Lab)]

Before I begin, I can update the House that the Scottish Government have granted an LCM. This covers the provisions in the Sentencing Bill on the treatment of national security offenders, which affect the executive competence of Scottish Ministers. I am very grateful to the Scottish Parliament for working with us.

I start by thanking the many noble Lords who have contributed to the Bill through debates in this Chamber and the extensive discussions that have taken place beyond it. Those contributions have shown the very best of this House. I am especially grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Marks, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, for their support and engagement on key measures in the Bill. I also thank the noble and learned Lord, Lord Keen, and the noble Lord, Lord Sandhurst, for their informed interventions and constructive challenge. Lastly, I thank my noble friends Lady Chakrabarti and Lord Blunkett for their contributions. I have enjoyed working with, and have learned a lot from, all noble Lords in your Lordships’ House. I also want to thank the officials who have been involved in the Bill’s preparation and passage, who have supported me so ably.

This is a significant Bill. As I said at Second Reading, it will put our justice system on a sustainable footing fit for the future, one that prioritises victims, fairness and accountability, and one that prioritises punishment that works, but, with the help of your Lordships’ House, we have gone even further to strengthen the Bill. Through its passage, we have added safeguards, and increased transparency, around the new approvals processes for the Sentencing Council; made it a statutory requirement for the Government to lay an annual Statement on prison capacity before Parliament; agreed to remove the power for providers of probation services to publish names, and photos, of individuals subject to an unpaid work requirement; and brought hope to those serving IPP sentences, and their families, by offering a faster and safe route to the end of their sentence.

Alongside this, we extended the whole life order starting point to include the murder of probation officers, and we made sure that this extends to current or former police, prison and probation officers where they are murdered in connection with their duties, even if it occurs while they are off duty or after they have left the service. I pause here to again pay tribute to former prison custody officer Lenny Scott as well as his family, who I am meeting tomorrow, for their dignified and determined advocacy on his behalf.

Finally, I again recognise the noble Lord, Lord Foster, for his tireless and tenacious leadership on tackling gambling addiction. As he knows, I share his concerns, and this is something I have committed to look at very closely.

I finish by again thanking the many noble Lords and officials who have helped shape, strengthen and support this Bill through to its Third Reading. It will prioritise victims, bring stability to our justice system, and better protect the public. I am very proud of this Bill and look forward to working on its implementation. I beg to move.

[Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames (LD)]

My Lords, I start by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Timpson, for his kind and generous introduction. This is an important Bill and we on these Benches have supported its principal purposes throughout—those being to address the extreme prison capacity crisis, to move away from reliance on more and longer prison sentences, and to introduce a presumption against short sentences of immediate imprisonment and switch to greater use of suspended sentences, coupled with community supervision. Our concerns now are to ensure that the Government’s ambitions for probation are properly resourced and met, and I know the noble Lord knows how challenging achieving those ambitions will be. It will involve better use of technology, effective use of tagging and in particular making a real success of the recruitment, training and motivation of the Prison and Probation Service.

The noble Lord also knows how much we on these Benches appreciate the engagement that he and the whole Bill team have had with us, but also with other noble Lords across the House. His approach to this Bill, and that of the noble Lord, Lord Lemos, have been a fine example of co-operation across the House driving significant improvement in legislation. We have made important changes and, I think, without wasting time. Among other welcome changes, we are particularly grateful to the Government for agreeing to the removal of Clause 35, with its unfortunate proposals for probation officers to take and publish photographs of offenders undertaking unpaid work. We are also very grateful for the Government’s commitment to thorough, open and regular reporting on prison and probation capacity and staffing. I pay credit to the contributions of my noble friend Lord Foster in this area, as well as for his contributions on gambling.

We believe that the Bill has the potential to move us towards a more effective and humane sentencing system that concentrates on rehabilitation of offenders and reducing reoffending and puts victims at its heart.

One issue that will need further consideration from the Commons, and again here, is the provision of free transcripts, for which this House voted, which would benefit public understanding, and particularly victims’ understanding, of how the justice system works. I hope we will find an agreed and acceptable way forward on this issue, despite the Government’s concern, which I understand, as to the initial cost of providing free transcripts.

Finally, on the other side of the balance, it is a shame that we have not made the progress that we sought in ending the scandal of IPP prisoners still in prison or on licence for years after their tariff sentences have been served. That is serious unfinished business, and the appalling injustice involved remains to be fully addressed. I know that Members around the House hope that it will be effectively addressed soon. Nevertheless, we are extremely pleased to see the successful passage of the Bill through the House.

[Lord Stewart of Dirleton (Con)]

My Lords, I too am grateful to all noble Lords for their constructive engagement on this important Bill at every stage of its passage. On behalf of my noble and learned friend Lord Keen of Elie and my noble friend Lord Sandhurst, I echo the words of the noble Lord, Lord Marks of Henley-on-Thames, in thanking the Minister for the open and courteous manner in which he engaged with the House throughout the Bill’s consideration.

We on these Benches are particularly pleased that the Government tabled Amendment 53. We are proud to have championed the case for addressing a serious and unjust gap in the law relating to the imposition of whole life orders for the murder of police and prison officers. We too acknowledge the determined campaigning work carried out by the parents of Lenny Scott after the murder of their son in February 2024. We also welcome the Government’s decision to extend this provision to probation officers, who carry out exceptionally demanding and important work in the service of the public.

I also thank the Minister for Amendment 58, which introduces an annual report on prison capacity. This is an issue which we pressed strongly in Committee. If Parliament is to legislate for significant changes in sentencing and release policy, it is only right that the public are provided with a regular and transparent account of the prison estate. While we would have preferred the Government to commit to a more detailed report, this none the less represents a welcome step forward.