Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for her amendment. In terms of procedure, I think that she has de-grouped Amendments Nos. 5A and 5B, so I will take them separately—at least, that is what I assume has happened. As with any piece of legislation, implementation of the Bill requires a significant programme of work. Monitoring and evaluation of the applications made under new Part 4A will be an important part of implementation. The Government are committed to ensuring that appropriate monitoring of the number of applications and their cost is carried out. This is standard practice in the implementation of any key piece of legislation. The number of non-molestation and occupation orders made each year is published annually in the judicial statistics report by my department. Similar data will be made available for orders made under new Part 4A. This will give an important indication of the scale of the problem, which we do not have at present, and of how these applications are being dealt with in the courts. As I have already touched on implementation, it may be helpful if I speak a little more generally about the Government’s implementation plans and what arrangements will be put in place to ensure that this information can be collected. The first task will be to develop the necessary court rules which will put in place the procedure for dealing with these cases. My department will take forward drafting of the rules and necessary court forms in conjunction with the Family Procedure Rule Committee, an experienced body of judiciary and practitioners who are experts in family law matters. The rules and forms will also be consulted on before they are finalised. Another key part of implementation will be to ensure that the appropriate IT is in place in the courts, so that court staff can process applications, deal with them effectively and collate the necessary statistics needed for monitoring. My officials are exploring the specific IT requirements and assessing the costs of those changes. It is difficult to predict exactly what the volume of applications will be under the new legislation. The indication is that it will be relatively small, and the impact on the legal aid budget will therefore be minimal. My officials will work with theLegal Services Commission to assess the likely impact on legal aid of the new legislation. I hope that that gives the noble Baroness a sense of the implementation process and programme we have in place, that it reassures her that the issues she raises regarding the need to monitor and make available data on the number of applications will be taken forward, and that she will be able to withdraw her amendment.