Member

That leads directly on to Amendment 57, which is the most important and urgent amendment in this group. The Government’s drafting introduces a maximum number of days. In effect, it creates the risk that, in practice, offenders will receive the bare minimum of, or even negligible, activity. Amendment 57 would reverse this logic by introducing a minimum threshold— a minimum standard—to ensure that rehabilitation requirements are substantive, credible and not merely symbolic. Without a minimum, courts could impose an order that appears robust only for the actual element of rehabilitation to be reduced to a token once the case leaves the court. This is not sentencing; it will be administrative dilution. This amendment would protect the public confidence, ensure that community sentences are meaningful and stop the Government hollowing out judicially imposed requirements through secondary decision-making—or “financial pressures”, in shorthand.