Member

Turning to Amendment 23, I would like to be clear that the continuity of protection for victims is a vital component of all the protection orders that can be made in the SJS under the provisions in the Bill, not only the service stalking protection orders. I say to the noble Baroness that that is why government amendments were made to the Bill in the other place to address the legislative gap identified by the Director of Service Prosecutions, ensuring that service protection orders can be made by a service court in relation to a service offence, even if the person has left the Armed Forces. That is now set out in Part 7 of Schedule 3 to the Bill: on page 117, under “Amendment of Stalking Protection Act 2019”, there is a list of the ways in which we have tried to reflect the very points that the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, quite rightly and importantly made about the need for automatic conversion of a service protection order to a civilian protection order once a person leaves the services. I think that is a really important step forward. That amendment was made in the Commons and is before your Lordships’ House.