My Lords, it feels like only yesterday that we had long and ongoing discussions about the anti-social behaviour Bill, and yet here we are, back already with an amendment to it. Obviously the amendment is necessary and I am grateful to the Minister for his candour in admitting that it was a mistake at the time which needs to be rectified. That is most helpful.
The order is limited, but the Minister will recall the wider discussions we had on this issue when we debated it. I was pleased to hear him say that the Government are committed to improving the system. He knows that we were critical of these clauses, and while we welcomed the changes, we did not think that they went far enough. This order is about the appeal process, which was something that was of concern to us when we looked at the granting of certificates and licences. We were critical of the piecemeal approach to making changes, and he will recall the discussions we had at the time. One of our strongest criticisms around the issue of appeals was in the area of domestic violence. We were disappointed when the Government rejected our amendment to provide that where there was substantiated evidence of a history of domestic violence, there should be a presumption against having a firearms certificate or a shotgun licence unless there are grounds for exemption.
We raised this issue because of evidence presented to the IPCC, and then set out in its report, on the appalling and tragic death of Mrs McGoldrick by Michael Atherton. It was quite clear that one of the reasons that Atherton was able to hold a legal firearm was because of flaws in the decision-making process in that, as the IPCC put it, the fears of an appeal were placed above the evidence of domestic abuse. Given all the problems such as his drinking and his violence, the report also said that his certificates were reviewed and a final warning letter was sent that,
“advised him that any further reports indicating any form of irresponsible or irrational or uncontrollable behaviour would result in the immediate revocation of his certificates”.
They were not taken away then because of the fear about his ability to appeal and now we are discussing appeals again today.
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The Minister will realise why we put that amendment forward at the time. It concerned situations where there was evidence of domestic violence. At present, there, have to be convictions, and even then the relevant action is not possible. However, today we found out from police forces across the country through a freedom of information request that community resolutions—which should be used only for low-level crime such as graffiti—have gone up from around 1,300 in 2009 to more than 3,000 now in cases of domestic abuse. As there has not been a caution or prosecution, this it is not recorded anywhere. Our great fear is that if people have committed an act of domestic abuse or domestic violence and it has not gone to the courts, with the police deciding, “We can sort this out between us”, it is not recorded in any way so when the police come to look at an application for a firearm, the evidence they need is not available. Our proposed amendment to the Bill would have allowed the evidence of a community resolution to be taken into account. That is not now available. It is quite clear that domestic violence needs to be a criminal offence and not just something that can be dealt with by community resolutions.
I have some questions for the noble Lord. We support the order. We think it is right but that it opens up deeper and wider issues. In the light of the IPCC comments, what assessment has been made of the
right of appeal? What assessments have been made of the impact of the appeal process on a police force’s decision to issue a certificate or a licence for a firearm? Does this order mean there will be any further guidance to police in relation to the issuing of certificates and appeals? My next point is key. Given all my points about community resolutions, such as not prosecuting and cases being disposed of but not recorded, does the Minister think that the use of community resolutions in domestic violence cases makes it more likely that those with a history of domestic violence, but not a conviction or caution for it, could more easily obtain a legal firearm? I think that is a very serious point.
We are saying to the Minister that, in looking at appeals, there needs to be a much wider consideration of the process, the place and the implications of the process of appeal in the decision to grant licences. Clearly sometimes it is inappropriate, as it was in the case of Michael Atherton, who then murdered his former partner. We support the order but hope the noble Lord can say that the Government are going to reconsider the impact of the appeals process on decision-making and that the police should be able to take into account the evidence we asked for, not just convictions, as is currently the case.