Clause 1
Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [Lords]
11:30 am
Bridget Prentice (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Justice; Lewisham East, Labour)
The important thing is that, in some cases, people close to the victim—it could be a friend or colleague—might be in the best position to go to the court to apply for a warrant. That is why the measure is widely defined. To give the hon. Gentleman some reassurance on preventing nuisance applications, the other party must seek leave of the court before it is possible to make an application. Requiring the leave of the court means that the court must be satisfied that a person has sufficient interest in the case for their application to proceed. I hope that that will prevent the whole world from feeling that they are able simply to turn up at the court to make an application willy-nilly.
Finally, as I said, the person who applied for the original order might not be available to apply for a warrant, so the flexibility in proposed new section 63J will allow someone else to make an application on their behalf. I hope that that clarifies what proposed new section 63J is about and the importance of a provision for third party applications. I used the example of the forced marriage unit, but other bodies will become involved through time.