Member

Finally, in addressing the amendment on breaching a court order, I hope I can reassure noble Lords that the Government agree with the thrust of the argument. The Bill already provides for exemptions where an offender has breached a court order, so the presumption does not apply and judges retain a discretion to impose a short prison sentence. Through amendments tabled in Committee in the other place, we further clarified that this also includes breaching a supervision order, such as a suspended sentence order. Therefore, repeat offenders who breach the terms of their suspended sentence, or commit a further offence while serving a suspended sentence, could go to prison.