Serious Crime Bill [HL]

Yes, admonished me and indicated over and over again that house arrest is not involved. So in conjunction with the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, over dinner, I decided that another acronym would be more appropriate. I thoughtof CODPO—that is, a confinement to domestic premises order—or, possibly, a POTODPO, which is a prevention of travel outside the domestic premises order. One or other of those acronyms is, I am sure, much more suitable and acceptable to the Minister. I turn to the group of amendments with which we are dealing and the notice that we have given of our intention to oppose many clause stand part questions in this part of the Bill. We have sought to confine the making of an SCPO, or CODPO, to the Crown Court, and only in circumstances in which a person has been convicted of an offence. The making of an SCPO might be more acceptable if a person has been convicted of a serious criminal offence and the Crown Court judge, who has heard all the evidence and come to a conclusion about the case, decides that, as part of the criminal sentence, he should issue a SCPO that would restrict the activities of the offender on release. That would mean that these orders would comply with what the Americans call due process and what we call the European Convention on Human Rights, in that they could be imposed only on proof on a criminal standard of specific offences. On that basis, we would find an SCPO more acceptable, although for other reasons we think that the whole concept is shot through with difficulty. I beg to move.