Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [HL]

I am grateful to the noble Baroness. I understand entirely that she wishes to explore why the Bill provides that breach of a forced marriage protection order is an offence in the schedules dealing with Northern Ireland when it is only contempt of court in the parts relating to England and Wales. I will try to clarify the difference. It is indeed owing to differences between domestic legislation of Northern Ireland and England and Wales respectively. The Northern Ireland provisions are based on the penalty contained in the Family Homes and Domestic Violence (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 for breaching a non-molestation order or a combined non-molestation order and occupation order, which states that such a breach is an offence. Northern Ireland has been using a criminal offence as a first enforcement option for breach of domestic violence orders for the past nine years. That approach has worked successfully there in relation to domestic violence and it is now widely accepted. It is supported by key stakeholders in Northern Ireland, including the judiciary, magistracy and the voluntary sector. This is a different situation from that in England and Wales where all experience up to now of dealing with breaches of domestic violence orders has been through use of the contempt jurisdiction. The same approach has therefore been taken with regard to forced marriage protection orders. Under this provision, a person who without reasonable excuse contravenes a forced marriage protection order is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £5,000 and/or a term of imprisonment of up to six months. That provision is not intending to punish behaviour which may result in a forced marriage protection order being sought. The rationale is rather that in Northern Ireland this is the best approach to send a clear message to perpetrators that their actions are serious and will not be tolerated. I hope that that gives the concise answer to the noble Baroness’s question on Amendment No. 12. My noble friend Lady Uddin has been consistent in saying, ““This is all fine, as long as you make sure that education, training and support go alongside it””. It is very important that we have awareness raising, particularly in the Muslim community. I understand that there are 3,000 members of the Muslim community in Northern Ireland who should be afforded the same rights as in England and Wales. I understand that hate crime is taken increasingly seriously in Northern Ireland. The Police Service of Northern Ireland has extensive policies to raise awareness and to try to increase reporting. The noble Baroness made an important offer on making sure that the right quality of advice is given. We will, if we may, pass that information to the Minister concerned in Northern Ireland as part of reporting back our discussions in Committee. I hope that that will enable the noble Baroness to engage with that process and make sure that others who can appropriately give support are also engaged. On Question, amendment agreed to. Clauses 2 to 10 negatived.