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Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [HL]

Amendment No. 7 introduces consequential amendments that allow the Lord Chancellor to amend any Act by order for the purposes of any of the new sections to be included under Amendment No. 1. Will the Minister indicate how far these orders will go, and confirm that they will be subject to the affirmative procedure in both Houses, as proposed new subsection (7) of Amendment No. 7 seems to suggest? I place on record my deep concern that the scrutiny of the Bill has been pushed for time and has been light on resources. I confess that I was deeply surprised that the Government would have happily introduced these amendments with only four working days’ notice to debate them—three days under the accepted minimum tabling time for government—and that they would have been happy to curtail the scrutiny of your Lordships’ House so easily. As things stand, we have been able to scrutinise the amendments, albeit, I fear, minimally. I hope that it has been sufficient, but I am prepared to undertake further scrutiny before Report, and will urge my colleagues in another place to do the same before it reaches their House. I register again my thanks and congratulations to the Bill team, who have, in the circumstances, done a marvellous job in turning the Bill around. I hope that their efforts will be rewarded by the Minister when she considers the best ways in which to improve the Bill further.