Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

I beg to move amendment No. 105, in clause 45, page 39, line 31, after ‘section;’, insert—

‘()section (Cross-border provisions relating to sexual offences);’.

Eric Forth (Bromley & Chislehurst, Conservative)

With this it will be convenient to discuss Government new clause 8—Cross-border provisions relating to sexual offences.

Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

In June, the Scottish Executive passed the Protection of Children and Prevention of Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2005, which introduce in Scotland several new offences and civil orders similar to those that the Sexual Offences Act 2003 introduced in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Scottish legislation, applies only to Scotland and cannot amend the 2003 Act as it applies to the rest of the United Kingdom.

Without the amendments, there is a risk that those previously convicted for a sexual offence, or those whom the courts consider to pose a risk of serious sexual harm, will escape the monitoring of or prohibitions on their behaviour, which we believe they merit, simply by moving over the border.

Various offences have been introduced, including grooming children and causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography, which broadly mirror offences in the rest of the United Kingdom. We want to ensure that offenders who are subject to the requirement to notify the police that they are in Scotland—commonly known as the sex offenders register—also become subject to the notification requirements whenever they are in any other part of the United Kingdom. As I said, failure to do so could mean that people could simply avoid the notification requirements by moving over the border, and we could leave some very vulnerable people at risk.

The clause ensures that the sexual offences prevention orders and the risk of sexual harm orders can be enforced properly and effectively in England, in Wales and in Northern Ireland. The amendments set out four offences of breaching the various orders, which will ensure that people are protected from those who pose a threat of sexual harm, wherever they live in the UK. Offenders will not be able to escape the consequences of the law in Scotland, the monitoring of their behaviour or prohibition simply by moving over the border.

Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

I beg to move amendment No. 304, in clause 45, page 40, line 7, at end insert—

‘()Section (Corresponding provision for Northern Ireland) and Schedule (Weapons, etc.: corresponding provisions for Northern Ireland) extend to Northern Ireland only.’.

Eric Forth (Bromley & Chislehurst, Conservative)

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following amendments: Government new clause 23—Corresponding provision for Northern Ireland.

Government new schedule 1—‘Weapons, etc: corresponding provisions for Northern Ireland.

Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

The amendment, new clause and new schedule extend to Northern Ireland most of the weapons provisions in clauses 24, 25, 29 to 34 and 36 in part 2. They introduce the offences of using someone to mind a weapon, restrictions on the sale and purchase of ammunition loading presses, selling realistic imitation firearms, purchasing imitation firearms, and they increase the sentence.

There are good reasons why some clauses do not extend to Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland, air weapons are deemed to be firearms, so they are already covered by firearms legislation, and primers are already defined as explosives, so they do not need the same provisions as those that cover the rest of the UK.

Clause 35 does not extend to Northern Ireland, because there is believed to be no problem of knife-carrying in schools in Northern Ireland at the moment, so there is no perceived need for head teachers to search pupils for knives. The other provisions are   being applied to Northern Ireland to try to ensure that people living there have the same protection as people living in the rest of the UK.

Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

I beg to move amendment No. 305, in clause 45, page 40, line 8, after ‘38’ insert

‘, section (Continuity of sexual offences law)’.

Eric Forth (Bromley & Chislehurst, Conservative)

With this it will be convenient to discuss the following amendments: Government new clause 24—Continuity of sexual offences law.

Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

The amendment and new clause relate to crossbows. Extensive restrictions are already in place to control the sale and use of crossbows. It is an offence to sell or to hire a crossbow to a person under the age of 17. The new clause increases the age limit to 18, in line with the various provisions that we have introduced on guns and knives. In addition, if someone is carrying a crossbow with the intent to cause injury, he could be prosecuted under section 1 of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953, which makes it an offence to carry an offensive weapon in public. We do not propose banning the sale of crossbows completely, as they have several legitimate functions. Their main use is the international competitive sport of crossbow archery, of which there are two types—match and field target shooting. [Interruption.] I apologise, Mr. Benton. I am speaking to the wrong amendment.

Humfrey Malins (Shadow Minister, (Assisted By Shadow Law Officers); Woking, Conservative)

My apologies; I did not notice.

Eric Forth (Bromley & Chislehurst, Conservative)

No one else did either.

Hon. Members:

Carry on!

Hazel Blears (Minister of State (Policing, Security and Community Safety), Home Office; Salford, Labour)

I apologise. I should be talking about sexual offences, but I am talking about violence, which is terribly confusing. I have a Parliamentary Private Secretary to help me with such things, and he has done his duty tonight, so I am very grateful to him.

We are talking about Government amendment No. 305 and Government new clause 24, which relate to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and are the result of a case that has come to our attention. In the Act, we changed the offences under sexual offences law, but at a trial involving a young person, it was impossible, for various technical reasons, to achieve a conviction, because that young person was unable to determine exactly the date on which the offence took place. The person was charged with the offence under the new legislation, but it could not be determined that that law applied, because the young person had difficulty pinpointing the actual day on which the sexual offence had taken place.

In the amendment and the new clause, we seek to make sure that that does not happen again. In a case in which it has been established that the criminal act took place, it is very unjust for the court to be bound to acquit the defendant simply because it cannot establish whether that act took place before or after 1 May 2004. It will be a severe injustice if somebody who has committed an offence is acquitted because the court   simply cannot place the date. The amendment and the new clause will remedy that situation and make sure that it does not happen in the future.