This image was copied this morning from this Government website that displays all of the Parliamentary Bills that are being processed. I wrote about this Bill a week or so ago here indicating that it was supported by a group of MPs from the Labour and the Conservative Party’s. The Bill is intended to ensure that if a young person has potentially committed a crime but they cannot be taken to Court until after they become an adult, that they will still be treated as a young person. This is because in some cases Courts are taking 2 or 3 years to deal with such issues and then their actions are treated very differently because of the way the law currently works. The Bill was introduced on 23rd February which is not too long ago. However on that day it was read for the first time which we can see has a tick in a box. The next item on the list is the second reading and the image indicates it is in progress. When he read out the Bill on the 23rd February which was two Tuesdays ago Rob Butler who is the MP for Aylesbury ended with the following text or words.

Question put and agreed to.

Ordered,

That Rob Butler, Sir Robert Neill, Maria Eagle, Jeremy Wright, Edward Timpson, Andrew Selous, Crispin Blunt, Dan Jarvis, Sarah Champion, Danny Kruger and Sally-Ann Hart present the Bill.

Bill read the First time; to be read a Second time tomorrow, and to be printed (Bill 260).

According to the website that produces the image shown above, in the news section for this Bill the only piece of information is

News – Youth Courts and Sentencing

The next stage for this Bill, Second reading, is scheduled to take place on a date to be announced.

This is a Private Members’ Bill and was introduced to Parliament on Tuesday 23 February 2021 under the Ten Minute Rule.

If the text of the Bill is not yet available, please contact its sponsor, Rob Butler MP, for more information.

So perhaps the Government will eventually allow it to be read, but why has it not been read nearly 2 weeks ago on Wednesday 24th February. How can we persuade people like Rob Butler to either read it a second time or force the Government to explain what is happening!