Member

If this House is to support the Government’s drive to release more offenders into the community rather than impose custodial sentences, the very least we must insist on is a system that checks whether or not it works. Anything else is reckless and unwise. Opposing these amendments is not only undemocratic, because it strips Parliament and the public of transparency; it is positively dangerous. It tolerates avoidable risks to the public. The Government cannot say that community sentences will reduce reoffending and improve public safety while at the same time resisting the very mechanisms that would allow us to monitor and enforce them. If Ministers are so confident that this approach works, they should have nothing to fear from accountability, enforcement or data.