London, Oct.18 : Lord Dholakia, the Deputy Leader of Britain's Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords, has questioned the Gordon Brown Government on its plans to reform the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

“Does the Minister recall that in 2003 the Government announced their intention to reform this legislation?” He then pointed out that “despite a series of criminal justice legislation, that reform has not surfaced,? Lord Dholakia asked.

The Act provides that, after specified rehabilitation periods, ex-offenders are able to conceal certain spent convictions when they are applying for jobs. Sensitive areas of work, such as such as criminal justice agencies, financial institutions and work with young people or vulnerable adults are excluded.

The Act also seeks to improve employment opportunities and reduce re-offending. Since it was enacted, the Act has helped many ex-offenders live productive lives as law-abiding citizens.

The Government’s 2002 document, Breaking the Circle, set out proposals to reform the Act and the Government undertook to legislate when parliamentary time allowed

Lord Dholakia finished by asking, “Will the Government indicate whether such legislation is likely to surface in the Queen’s Speech?”

The Minister in his response said, “I understand the noble Lord’s disappointment that the Government have not yet found parliamentary time to produce the legislation in light of Breaking the Circle. He is right about the statistics in relation to the importance of work in stopping re-offending and in his comment about the length of time that must pass before a conviction can be spent; Breaking the Circle argued for less time.

We are sympathetic to that. I can assure the noble Lord that the department will be working on this in the light of the 2006 Act”. (ANI)