Lord Keen of Elie (Con)

My Lords, this group contains my amendment seeking to increase the unduly lenient sentence deadline to 56 days, and amendments from the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, seeking to allow that timeframe to be extended in exceptional circumstances. The whole group concerns both how the unduly lenient sentence scheme operates in practice and how long the timeframe should be for an application. Amendments 24 and 25 in my name would increase the window for applications to 56 days. These were in fact amendments that the Government had pledged to table. However, they decided to withdraw them just two days later. They explained that an increased timeframe for the scheme would be of little use if victims were unaware of its existence. I entirely agree with that in principle, but I wonder why we cannot have both an increase in the timeframe and a suitable means of intimation. Amendments 26 and 27 in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, would also act to strengthen victims’ rights in this respect, and we support them. Amendment 27 would place a duty on a nominated government department to inform victims and their families. While the Minister will no doubt say that this is the responsibility of the witness care unit and should therefore not be in legislation, we are inclined to disagree. Too many cases exist of victims losing the right to an unduly lenient sentence application because they were either not notified or notified too late, and therefore statutory provision may be appropriate. I do not intend to press these amendments to a Division, but I hope that the Minister will address the reasons why the Government decided to withdraw their own amendment and explain the reasoning behind that. I believe that that would be welcomed across the House.