My Lords, I beg to move that this Bill be now read a second time.

I am delighted to have the honour of taking this important piece of legislation through your Lordships' House. Female genital mutilation is a cruel and unnecessary practice which I have long opposed and which I am keen to see eradicated.

The main purpose of the Bill is to close what has been seen for some time as a loophole in the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act 1985. It was introduced in Another place by my Honourable Friend the Member for Cynon Valley, Ann Clwyd, who ably steered it through its various stages. The Bill received strong support from all sides in another place. I hope that it will do so here.

The 1985 Act made clear beyond doubt that the practice of female genital mutilation or FGM would not be tolerated in this country but it does not prevent people from taking children abroad to have the procedure performed.

We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that people are evading our law in this way. It is right that the UK should take all appropriate legislative measures to protect our children and young women from this dreadful practice, both here and abroad. The physical and psychological effects on them of FGM are enormous and a terrible violation of their human rights.

The Bill therefore seeks to ensure that people with a substantial connection to the United Kingdom who take girls abroad for FGM can be prosecuted on their return. At the same time it increases substantially the maximum penalty for FGM and describes the prohibited acts for what they are: mutilation.

FGM is a collective term for a range of procedures, which include the partial or total removal of or other injury to the external female genitalia. It is an age-old practice, which is perpetuated in many communities around the world simply because it is customary. Its origins are unknown. The practice is medically unnecessary, extremely painful and poses severe health risks, both at the time when the mutilation is carried out and in later life. It has no possible physical advantages; is not called for in any religion and is not limited to any religious group.

Typically, FGM is performed on girls between the ages of four and 13 but also in some cases on new-born infants or on young women prior to marriage or pregnancy. The practice is particularly prevalent in Africa and occurs to a lesser extent in the Middle East and Asia. However, those who have undergone or are at risk of undergoing FGM are increasingly found in Western Europe and other developed countries, primarily among immigrants and refugee communities.

Estimates of the number of women and girls who have undergone FGM world-wide range from 130 million to 150 million, with an estimated 2 million at risk each year. The extent to which FGM is practised in the UK is not known but there are thought to be 74,000 first-generation African immigrant women in the UK who have undergone FGM and as many as 7,000 girls under 16 within the practising communities who are at risk of undergoing it.

In countries where female genital mutilation is prevalent the conditions in which it is carried out are often unhygienic and the instruments used crude and unsterilised: kitchen knives, razor blades, broken glass and even sharp stones are the tools of the trade. Worse still is the fact that in most cases no anaesthetic is used. Children are simply held down while the procedure is performed. A recent Channel 4 documentary about FGM, "The Day I Will Never Forget", showed two young Somali girls undergoing the procedure and made harrowing viewing.

The severe health consequences of FGM cannot be underestimated. Immediate consequences include severe pain, haemorrhage, shock, infection, septicaemia or even death. Longer-term consequences include difficulty in menstruating and passing urine, infertility and sexual dysfunction. FGM also greatly increases the risk to women in pregnancy and childbirth. Women who have been mutilated are twice as likely to die in childbirth and three or four times as likely to have a stillborn child. It is unlikely that FGM was ever legal in this country. Even before the Prohibition of Female Circumcision Act came into force, it could almost certainly have been prosecuted as an offence against the person. The purpose of the 1985 Act was to remove any uncertainty about the legality of the practice and to make it clear that such a barbaric custom has no place in our society.

The Act was a result of a Private Member's Bill introduced in another place by the Member for Broxbourne, Marion Roe, and supported by the government of the day. As one of the first pieces of legislation on FGM in the world, it broke new ground. So too does this Bill.

Like some other countries, which have specific Laws against FGM, the UK has seen no prosecutions since the 1985 Act came into force. Research carried out by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population Development and Reproductive Health prior to the hearing that it held on FGM in May 2000 suggested that it is most often pressure from the family or community to remain silent which leads to offences going unreported. Many victims may be too young and vulnerable or too afraid to report them. Lack of awareness of the law and fear of cultural sensitivities are also factors.

As a member of the panel at the FGM hearings in 2000, I am particularly pleased that this Bill gives effect to a number of our recommendations for changes in the existing law. First, it substitutes the term "genital mutilations" for "circumcision". The term "circumcision" in this context is misleading, not least because FGM is not in any way comparable to the accepted practice of male circumcision. The Long Title of the Bill removes any doubt as to the acceptability of this dreadful practice. It describes the prohibited acts for exactly what they are—mutilations.

Secondly, and most importantly, the Bill gives extraterritorial effect to the existing provisions. This means that any of the prohibited acts done outside the UK by a UK national or permanent UK residents will be offences under domestic law and triable in the courts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. That is a significant and ground-breaking extension of the present law.

Permanent UK residents are people who ordinarily live in this country without being subject under the immigration laws to any restriction on the period for which they may remain. The Bill will therefore catch those with a substantial connection to the UK but not those who are here temporarily—for example, foreign students or visitors.

Concern was expressed in another place that the extraterritorial provision should apply to all UK residents who commit the prohibited acts; in particular, those seeking asylum from countries where FGM is endemic. But there is a limit as to how far the UK can go in protecting children from and prosecuting people for offences of FGM committed outside our jurisdiction. We cannot legislate to protect all victims outside our jurisdiction, nor can we prosecute everyone and anyone who has committed FGM abroad and who happens to have touched our shores.

The people that the extraterritorial provisions are intended to catch are those who take children abroad for FGM and then return to—and can thus be tried in—the UK. Those who have permanent residence here are free to leave and return to the UK at will and are thus more likely to be able to do this than those who do not.

Asylum seekers, on the other hand, are much less likely to leave the UK for FGM-related or, indeed, any other reasons. An asylum application still under consideration by the Home Office is regarded as withdrawn at the time of departure if the applicant leaves the UK; and an asylum appeal pending in the UK will be treated as abandoned if the appellant leaves.

It is important to emphasise too that the Bill, like the 1985 Act, covers anyone, including foreign students and visitors who commits a prohibited act in this country. It is only when the acts are committed overseas that the restrictions as to nationality or residence apply.

Thirdly, the Bill increases the maximum penalty for FGM from five to 14 years' imprisonment. Other than life imprisonment, that is the highest sentence that can be imposed. It was argued in another place that increased prison terms will not have any effect if people are not prosecuted, but the higher penalty may have a greater deterrent effect. Someone prepared to risk five years' imprisonment may think twice before risking 14.

That covers how this Bill will change the present law. Otherwise, it simply re-enacts the provisions of the 1985 Act. Nevertheless, 18 years on, re-enactment has provided a valuable opportunity for debate on these provisions. In particular, on the saving that is provided for necessary surgical operations.

Necessary surgical operations are those that are necessary for physical or mental health. But Clause 1(5) of the Bill specifically provides that in assessing mental health, no account is taken of any belief,

"that the operation is needed as a matter of custom or ritual".

So FGM could not legally occur on the ground that a woman's mental health would suffer if she did not conform with the prevailing custom of her community.

Concern was expressed in another place about the need for and potential misuse of the savings of those surgical operations that are necessary for mental health. This is particularly in the context of so-called "designer vagina" operations where women undergo a voluntary procedure to improve appearance or enhance sexual pleasure. Anecdotal evidence suggests that that is a growing trend.

When the 1985 Act was passed, it was not Parliament's intention to place any statutory limitation on operations that are genuinely necessary; nor is it the intention of the Bill. Such operations may well be rare, but they do occur, and it would be wrong to criminalise them. But unless they are medically necessary, any operations involving mutilation of the external genitalia—"designer vagina" or otherwise—are already illegal if carried out by a person in the UK. Under the Bill's provisions, they will also be illegal if carried out by a UK national or permanent UK resident outside the UK. That will be the case even if the woman on whom the operation is carried out consents.

The climate in which we are debating the Bill today is very different from that in 1985. There is now much greater awareness of the practice of FGM and people are perhaps less inclined to believe that cultural beliefs are sacrosanct. We must of course respect other cultures and traditions, but that does not mean accepting the unacceptable. FGM is a brutal practice. It cannot be supported on cultural, medical or other grounds.

Of course, legislation alone will not bring an end to this abhorrent violation of women's bodies. Much still needs to be done both here and abroad to educate the practising communities about the serious health consequences and persuade them to abandon mutilation. I hope that the Government will continue to support those organisations which already do such valuable work with the practising communities. But the Bill sends a powerful message. It is a reflection of the seriousness with which the problem of FGM is viewed and is a welcome step in the right direction. I commend the Bill to the House.

Moved, That the Bill be now read a second time.—(Baroness Rendell of Babergh.)