Clause 8 - Interim orders
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
5:15 pm
Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)
I hope that the amendments will not detain the Committee long. The Government amendments clarify the procedure for applications for interim orders made without notice, and make it clear that applications can be heard in the absence of the individual concerned. The hon. Member for Woking referred to the matter in an earlier debate.
The Government amendments also correct a minor drafting error, and they remove the reference to an application for an ex parte interim order on conviction. The latter is unnecessary, because unlike the procedure for antisocial behaviour orders, the court must consider making a drinking banning order on conviction, and no application is made or required.
Criminal courts can convict and sentence in the absence of the defendant—or, in the case of a civil order, the respondent—and will be able to make an interim drinking banning order on conviction, regardless of whether the defendant is present in court. Applications for ex parte interim orders are necessary only in the context of free-standing applications, not for applications on conviction.
Permission for an application for an interim order without notice may be given only when the court or clerk is satisfied that it is necessary for the application to be made without the individual concerned receiving notice, and an amendment will be made to allow for that. I hope that those minor and technical Government amendments clarify the position on ex parte interim orders.