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Crime and Security Bill

I am comfortable with it, because the objective of domestic violence protection orders is to be expedited as quickly as possible, and I hope that the pilot will test that. That is the purpose of the order. It is intended to be an immediate response where there is insufficient evidence to ensure an immediate prosecution, but where there are concerns about the safety of an individual or—after I accept amendment 1, in the name of my hon. Friend—young people who are also part of the family circle. The purpose of the order is to be expedited extremely quickly. My view is that orders will be expedited quickly, and that will be the expectation. The pilot will test whether that is the understanding, but our expectation is that that will happen. We have said that we intend to issue guidance to the police under the Bill that will impress upon them the importance of acting expeditiously in gathering evidence for the DVPO application to be determined. Also, the courts will be alive to the risk of injustice if a DVPN is allowed to continue for too long, and will, I am sure, refuse requests from the police to adjourn applications if there is an unreasonable length of time. The purpose of the orders is to be speedy and to be expedited accordingly. I therefore hope that the hon. Gentleman will not press amendments 21 and 22, but if not, I shall unfortunately have to reject them. Amendment 54, standing in the name of the right hon. and learned Gentleman, also covers a matter that we discussed in detail in Committee. I can understand that there might be circumstances where a parallel order of some sort might be in place, and this evening he used the example of control orders. However, as we discussed in Committee, it is highly likely that the police officer who authorises a domestic violence protection order will be aware of the history and of any other order to which the individual in question is subject. As we discussed extensively in Committee, the chances are that the police national computer will show up any other orders that are in place. The right hon. and learned Gentleman mentioned control orders. Currently there are 11 control orders in place, and there have been only around 43 to 45 in total. The chances of an individual being subject to a control order at the same time as being subject to a domestic violence protection order is therefore relatively remote, although I respect the way the right hon. and learned Gentleman has raised the issue.