Crime and Security Bill

What I have said is, first, that the circumstances that I have described are likely to be a rare occurrence, and secondly, that the court will be fully aware of the circumstances and have those facts before it when making the order. Indeed, in the extremely unlikely situation that incompatible conditions were to be imposed by mistake, that would be taken into account by the police when enforcing the various conditions. I am not saying that such a situation would be impossible because, self-evidently, these things can happen. If such a situation were to arise, however, it would be a mistake. Furthermore, all the information about the current obligations on an individual would be before the court, and my contention is that it would also be before the police before the domestic violence order was approved by the senior officer charged with approving it. I mentioned to the right hon. and learned Gentleman that, even if that were not the case, following our discussions in Committee—and following this debate tonight—no senior officer would approve an order unless they were certain that it was compatible with any other order that might be before the courts. I hope that he will therefore not press his amendment to a vote. The Government support amendments 1 and 2, and I am grateful to my hon. Friend for tabling them. I hope that the House will accept them, and that the other amendments will not be pressed to a Division.