Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords]
9:10 am
Mr Paul Goggins (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wythenshawe and Sale East, Labour)
I beg to move,
That—
(1) during proceedings on the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill [Lords] the Standing Committee shall meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9.10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m.;
(2) 10 sittings shall be allotted to the consideration of the Bill in Committee;
(3) the proceedings shall be taken in the following order: Clauses 1 to 16, Schedule 1, Clause 17, Schedule 2, Clauses 18 to 20, Schedule 3, Clauses 21 to 24, Schedule 4, Clause 25, Schedule 5, Clauses 26 to 30, Schedule 6, Clauses 31 to 34, Schedules 7 and 8, Clause 35, Schedule 9, Clauses 36 to 39, New Clauses, New Schedules, remaining proceedings on the Bill;
(4) proceedings on the Bill shall (so far as not previously concluded) be brought to a conclusion at 6.55 p.m. on Tuesday 6th July 2004.
It is a pleasure, Dame Marion, to see you in the Chair. I know that I speak on behalf of the Committee in warmly congratulating you on your new title, and we shall learn to address you by it. On a different note personal to you, one of my responsibilities last year was to respond for the Government to the private Member's Bill on female genital mutilation, during which time I learned a lot about your significant contribution on that subject. It will be a pleasure to have you preside over our proceedings. I pay tribute to your work in this field.
We had a good Second Reading debate, and I do not intend to rehearse all the arguments now. The Bill deals with a number of important measures, strengthens the law on domestic violence, deals with a variety of new arrangements for victims and introduces a new offence of causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult. We made it clear on Second Reading that the Government intend to overturn four changes made to the Bill in the other place: two relate to the new offence, one relates to unfitness to plead and one relates to multiple offending. Various Members at various times promised us significant debate on those issues. I look forward to that.
We have already tabled amendments to bring the rights of victims of mentally disordered offenders in line with the rights of victims of serious offenders. I
shall shortly table amendments to bring parallel arrangements for Northern Ireland. Towards the end of last week we tabled an amendment to give the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority authority to recover money from offenders that has been paid in compensation. I have already made an informal commitment, and I make it again formally on the record, that we will soon table other amendments in relation to the victims' element of the Bill. Hon. Members from all parties will look forward to studying them closely. We will also introduce amendments on fine enforcement, which will command the support of the whole Committee.
Our discussions so far on the substance of the Bill and the timetabling of our deliberations have been consensual. That should be the spirit of the Committee. We will be flexible. We have already agreed that there may be fewer sittings than planned, or there may be more, but however many sittings there are, we will give the Bill thorough consideration so it goes back to the House in even better shape than it is in this morning. I reiterate that any Committee member can approach members of the Bill team for advice and to consult on and discuss any ideas or questions. We should be entirely open in our consideration of these matters.