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Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill

My Lords, I shall speak in favour of Amendment 60, for which the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, has made a strong case. I expect the Minister may say that, ipso facto, an abuse of power is unlawful. The problem is that if that is the argument, the way that sub-paragraph (6) is drafted apparently provides a complete definition of the phrase ““abuse of power”” in the context of paragraph 19, and the totality of that definition is in sub-paragraph (6)(a) and (b). It seems necessary to include the word ““unlawful”” although, as I say, it seems manifestly obvious that any public authority acting unlawfully is, by definition, abusing its power. I would also be grateful if the Minister could tell us whether the word ““deliberate”” here means the same as ““intentional””. I rather assume that it does, but some explanation is needed of why the normal terms—““intentional”” or ““with intent””—have been changed in this instance to ““deliberate””. Does the definition as drafted exclude the careless exercise of power on the part of a public authority because there is a difference between a reckless or careless exercise of power and one that is deliberate or intentional? I hope that the noble Lord will refer to those points when he sums up. As I say, I am happy to support this amendment.