UK Parliament / Open data

Serious Crime Bill [HL]

Proceeding contribution from Baroness Smith of Basildon (Labour) in the House of Lords on Tuesday, 28 October 2014. It occurred during Debate on bills on Serious Crime Bill [HL].

I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that, because we just want to get it right. On the basis that she is prepared to discuss it and bring something back at Third Reading, we will be happy to withdraw our amendment. I am grateful and I appreciate that.

However, I must express my disappointment with her comment around the legal definition. I was unusually —and somewhat, I would say, embarrassingly—graphic about what reinfibulation actually means. I know that the Government believe that it is covered in law, and I said that in my comments. We believed that we covered reinfibulation when we brought in the law in 2003, but the evidence is that it is not. If the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists say that it is not covered, we have to accept that there is a lack of clarity and there is some doubt. With the best will in the world, the noble Baroness saying to me that the Government believe that it is covered is not good enough. I ask her whether, on the same basis, she would be prepared to look at this and discuss this with us.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
756 c1100 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
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