Member

I will return to Amendment 21 later, but I want to start with Amendment 22 for a very important reason: the provision for specialist stalking training. My amendment requires specialist stalking training to be in place before the service stalking protection order regime comes into force to support the effective implementation of the new measures. One of the things the Minister says in the letter is that of course all the service personnel dealing with stalking will be trained properly and effectively. But one of the most important things that needs to happen is that the culture inside the service police force about stalking needs to change completely, and the only way to do that is to make sure that everybody—absolutely everybody —has training. Often, the victim of stalking’s first contact is not with a specialist stalking-trained police officer, and I am sure the same is true inside the service police as well. That is why I tabled that amendment.