Clause 1
Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
The amendment would remove the court’s powers to require a person to do something—the most obvious example being to require them to produce their passport. Recent orders in the High Court in forced marriage cases have adopted that approach and the Bill’s intention is to put on a statutory footing the power to make orders to protect victims of forced marriages under the inherent wardship jurisdictions of the High Court, and to extend that power to the county court.
The reasoning behind this part of the clause is that in many cases of forced marriages victims are taken abroad on the pretext of going on holiday. The option of requiring the person to do something such as producing their passport can be a useful tool in preventing the forced marriage from taking place. The clause is in the Bill as a preventative measure and I hope that the hon. Gentleman is satisfied that that is a good reason to withdraw his amendment.