Policing and Crime Bill

I shall also speak to Amendment 129. We have just been considering the first condition for imposing one of these injunctions in subsection (2). The combined effect of these two amendments is to subsection (3), to ensure that an injunction cannot be granted simply to protect the respondent from gang-related violence. We do not believe that adults, except in the mental health or mental capacity context, should be subject to compulsory protective interventions of this kind. Let us look at what the person can be asked to do in Clause 34. Under subsection (3)(a), the applicant can know where the respondent lives and whether they move. Under paragraph (b), the respondent can be forced to be at a particular place at a particular time on a particular day and, under paragraph (c), the respondent must present himself to a particular person on that particular day. Also, under paragraph (d), the respondent can be forced to take part in a particular activity. All those things are a restriction on the person’s freedom, but it is also suggested that they could be done to protect that person from gang-related violence. It is inconceivable that an adult—a free citizen of this country—should be forced to do any of those things for their own protection. They may very well wish to do them if they feel threatened by a gang, but we on these Benches do not believe that they should be forced to do them. Nor am I clear from the Minister’s remarks whether these injunctions, in particular under subsection (3), would apply to under-18s. If they are to apply to children, I believe that there will be considerable difficulties of enforcement, particularly if the injunction is breached. There are much better ways of protecting children than submitting them to an injunction of this kind. Will the Minister therefore be very clear about whether it is the Government’s intention that these injunctions, and any part of Clause 33, will be applied to under-18s? I beg to move.