Violent Crime Reduction Bill

I agree with the Minister that the amendments are more than just technical, and some of them are on important issues. I shall highlight just four. First, I should mention Lords amendments Nos. 67 and 68 on ticket touting. It was anomalous that the ticket-touting legislation did not apply to football matches. That was a particularly serious lacuna in the law, because the authorities’ inability to deal with ticket touting could cause public order issues, as it can compromise arrangements for segregating rival supporters. It therefore makes sense to close that loophole in the law. The second amendment that I think is significant is No. 69, which is on ““Power of entry and search of relevant offender’s home address””. We should not allow the amendment to be agreed to without recognising that it gives police significant additional powers relating to the notification requirements for sex offenders, or those who are cautioned for sex offences. The concern is that offenders are seeking to frustrate the process of risk assessment that the police must undertake on them. It is entirely legitimate for us to consider ways of dealing with offenders’ attempts to get round the various notification requirements, although the Government resisted doing so for some time. They are dealing with the problem by giving the police a pre-emptive power to enter premises and search the homes of the sex offenders who are on the register, even in circumstances that fall short of suspecting that an offence of whatever kind has been committed. The House should be wary of giving the police such pre-emptive powers. However, safeguards have been built into the amendment. First, the police should have a warrant issued by a magistrate to enter the offender’s home. Secondly, the application must be made by a senior police officer, whose rank does not fall below that of superintendent. As my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) pointed out, that is a senior rank, and thus a significant safeguard. Thirdly, the constable must have sought entry to the premises in question and been denied access by the offender on at least two previous occasions. Subject to those safeguards, we accept that the wrong that the Lords amendment seeks to address is a serious one. It is extremely important that the authorities are able to monitor sex offenders properly, and it is important for public confidence, so we welcome the additional power. Lords amendments Nos. 81 to 104 deal with what Lord Addington described in the other place as"““one of the cock-ups of history.””" The application of the Private Security Industry Act 2001 was broader that was intended as, inadvertently, it covers stewards employed by the governing bodies of clubs at sporting grounds. Lord Pendry said in the other place:"““There is no evidence of criminality or poor standards in stewarding services at sporting events, yet the cost to licence them under the Security Industry Authority would be prohibitively high.””— [Official Report, House of Lords, 16 October 2006; Vol. 685, c. 636, 634.]" The provision caused problems when important events were held at venues such as Twickenham, Lords and Wimbledon. We do not want to increase costs unnecessarily, as there is no evidence that those stewards should be accredited to the same standards as other individuals whom the Act was intended to cover. We therefore welcome the removal of their inclusion. Finally, Lords amendments Nos. 105 to 110 amend schedule 2, which deals with football banning orders. Some individuals have attempted to make the application of the orders difficult, and have avoided compliance, whether intentionally or otherwise, by changing their name, address or passport details. People should not be able to act in that way, so we welcome the power provided by the amendments. The remaining Lords amendments are consequential and technical amendments, which we are happy to support.