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New clause 43
Disclosure orders for purpose of
executing warrants
'After section 125C of the Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c.43) insert—
''125CA Power to make disclosure order
(1) A magistrates' court may make a disclosure order if satisfied that it is necessary to do so for the purpose of executing a warrant to which this section applies.
(2) This section applies to a warrant of arrest, commitment, detention or distress issued by a justice of the peace in connection with the enforcement of a fine or other order imposed or made on conviction.
(3) A disclosure order is an order requiring the person to whom it is directed to supply the designated officer for the court with any of the following information about the person to whom the warrant relates—
(a) his name, date of birth or national insurance number;
(b) his address (or any of his addresses).
(4) A disclosure order may be made only on the application of a person entitled to execute the warrant.
(5) This section applies to the Crown as it applies to other persons.
125CB Use of information supplied under disclosure order
(1) Information supplied to a person under a disclosure order, or under this subsection, may be supplied by him to—
(a) the applicant for the order or any other person entitled to execute the warrant concerned;
(b) any employee of a body or person who, for the purposes of section 125B above, is an approved enforcement agency in relation to the warrant;
(c) any justices' clerk or other person appointed under section 2(1) of the Courts Act 2003.
(2) A person who intentionally or recklessly—
(a) discloses information supplied under a disclosure order otherwise than as permitted by subsection (1) above, or
(b) uses information so supplied otherwise than for the purpose of facilitating the execution of the warrant concerned,
commits an offence.
(3) But it is not an offence under subsection (2) above—
(a) to disclose any information in accordance with any enactment or order of a court or for the purposes of any proceedings before a court; or
(b) to disclose any information which has previously been lawfully disclosed to the public.
(4) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (2) above is liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum;
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine.
(5) In this section ''disclosure order'' has the meaning given by section 125CA(3) above.'' '.
—[Mr. Leslie.]
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Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.
New Clause 44
Procedure on breach of community penalty etc
'Schedule (Procedure on breach of community penalty etc) (procedure on breach of community penalty etc) has effect.'.—[Mr. Leslie.]
Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.
New clause 2
Amendments to the Youth Justice and
Criminal Evidence Act 1999 to extend the category of witnesses eligible for assistance on grounds of fear or distress about testifying
'In section 17 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999 (c.23) (witnesses eligible for assistance on grounds of fear or distress about testifying) after subsection (4) insert—
''(4A) Where the complainant in respect of proceedings relating to any form of molestation, including violence, involving the complainant, a cohabitant, a relevant child or associated persons, is a witness in such proceedings, the witness is eligible for assistance in relation to those proceedings by virtue of this subsection unless the witness has informed the court of the witness' wish not to be so eligible by virtue of this subsection.
(4B) For the purposes of this subsection, 'cohabitant', 'relevant child' and 'associated persons' mean a person as defined by section 62 of the Family Law Act 1996 (c.27) (meaning of ''cohabitants'', ''relevant child'' and ''associated person'') as amended by sections 2 and 3 of this Act''.'.—[Mrs. Gillan.]
Brought up, and read the First time.
Mrs. Gillan: I beg to move, That the clause be read a Second time.
The new clause is similar to the one tabled in the other place by Viscount Bridgeman. It is an attempt to get on record the Minister's views on the use of new technology.
There are new initiatives under way on the better treatment of witnesses, which we hope will bring great benefits. I refer in particular to the ''no witness, no justice'' initiative, which will help to make sure that a witness's needs are taken into account early in criminal court proceedings. I know that the Minister is familiar with that initiative. The new clause is concerned with, among other things, victims of domestic violence. We want to develop procedures that will ensure that victims have more certainty about the process of going to court.
In the experience of Victim Support, most victims are terrified at the thought of seeing their abuser, as we can well imagine; they are even quite frightened by the thought of seeing relatives of the abuser, because of the effect that domestic abuse has had on them. It is possible for the court to direct that a victim can give evidence from behind a screen or from a television-link room. Those are special measures, but they are not always requested or, indeed, provided. The amendment aims to give victims some certainty by making it a rebuttable presumption that special measures such as screens or a TV link will be used when the victim gives evidence in court. That would mean that right at the start of the process, when the victim reports the abuse and the possibility of
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prosecution is being considered, a support worker, advocate, the police, or whoever has contact with the victim is able to explain to her the protection that the court can grant if she wishes to use those measures.
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In the other place, there was some discussion about the fact that every victim has individual views, but the amendment will give victims the option to change their mind. Some people will decide on the day of the court appearance that they have reached the point where they want the defendant to see them giving evidence. The amendment does not prevent them from giving evidence in the usual fashion; instead, it offers protection to everybody. Many victims will receive the information about special measures and be relieved that the court process will not be so much of an ordeal. Any fear or worry that they have about having to face the defendant in court will be eliminated at that point—they will not have to wait, for example, until the early stages of the prosecution process, or even until the day of the trial.
To summarise what one Victim Support witness service staff member said, victims can reap the benefit of forward planning from day one. I hope that the Minister will consider accepting this protection.
Vera Baird (Redcar) (Lab): Since the 1998 publication of ''Speaking Up for Justice''—the Home Office sex offences review report—it has always been presumed to be likely that victims of domestic violence will automatically be entitled to special measures, in the same way that victims of offences of sexual violence have an automatic right to such measures unless they ask that they not to be given. That is largely because there is almost invariably a coincidence between physical domestic violence and sexual violence. Whether or not a prosecution is being brought for a sex offence, it is well known that there is a widespread connection between the two things. Therefore, if one category of person is deemed to be an vulnerable witness who merits such provisions, the other ought to be deemed to be the same.
The fact that that presumption is not in place—the amendment would introduce it—does not mean that women who come to court for domestic violence cases cannot apply through the Crown Prosecution Service for special measures. The way that the hon. Lady has set out is much less satisfactory, because it leaves the matter until, at the earliest, the pre-trial review, which is a business hearing to organise how the trial will continue. It might even be dealt with on the day of the trial. The woman concerned will not know from the outset whether she has to face the perpetrator of her misery in court while giving probably very delicate evidence. Women's groups, such as Refuge and Women's Aid, and so on, who have briefed all Committee members, say that that is likely to be part of a forest of things that tend to deter women not only from making complaints, but from going through with them. It is not just that they may have to give evidence: they may not know whether they have to do so without the protections.
The difficulty with the second tier of protection, under which a woman would apply later for the
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discretion to be exercised in her favour, is that being able satisfactorily to accomplish that depends on having appropriate officers and CPS staff present, who will be sensitive to the requests of the woman, or who will, even without her asking, reach out and invite her to say whether she wants such measures. That will not necessarily happen. It is odd that such vulnerable witnesses should be left, as it were, at the mercy of the expertise of an individual officer in an individual case, which may or may not be strong.
However, there is something to be gained from giving that category of women the same support that the category of sex offence complainants already has. The provision will do that. I would be interested to hear if there are any powerful reasons against it. To speculate before the Minister responds, one of them might yet again be the difficulty to categorise what is an offence of domestic violence. The new clause is designed to circumvent the absence of a definition of domestic violence by merely referring to an offence that involves
''any form of molestation, including violence''.
That is wide enough for anybody who comes into this category to be adequately covered. I invite the Government to take a serious look at the new clause.
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