Serious Crime Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 63: 63: After Clause 5, insert the following new Clause— ““Register of serious crime prevention orders (1) The Secretary of State must maintain a register of all serious crime prevention orders currently in force, recording for each one— (a) the name and address of the person subject to the order; (b) the nature of the serious crime that the court is satisfied that the person has been involved in for the purposes of section 1(1)(a) of this Act; and (c) the terms and duration of the order. (2) The register shall be open to public inspection.”” The noble Lord said: Although as my noble friend Lord Waddington pointed out earlier this Bill cannot touch Scaramanga as a professional hit man—we will continue to have to rely on James Bond for that—it has extremely wide application and, in particular, will be liable to mess up the lives of people who on the face of it may be entirely innocent traders dealing in, say, artificial sweeteners that happen to have a nefarious use in some hands. If we are to give such wide powers to the Government and to law enforcement agencies, we want to be sure that we know how they are being used and can keep an eye on what is happening. I do not put any particular store in the drafting of my amendment, but I want to be sure that if, in two years’ time, I table a Question saying, ““Tell me exactly how these orders have been used””, I will get a clear and complete answer. I beg to move.