Member

Government Amendment 4 is part of a listening exercise that we undertook in Committee. It will ensure that appropriate consultation is carried out prior to the issue or revision of statutory guidance on respect orders. Although consultation with relevant stakeholders is routinely carried out prior to the issuing of such guidance, I hope that formalising this requirement in the legislation with Amendment 4 will help with the concerns noble Lords raised about statutory guidance not being subject to adequate consultation and the perceived impact on its utility. I will return to that at some point, but I hope that is of assistance. Amendment 4 also makes it clear that the consultation undertaken prior to Clause 1 coming into force will count towards fulfilling the consultation requirement.