Baroness Brinton (LD)

My Lords, I thank everyone who spoke in this debate. Earlier, I should also have thanked the Centre for Military Justice, the Guardian and the women I spoke to. I was glad to hear the speech by the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett. Unsurprisingly, we agree almost entirely on the problems. I also agree with her that we will not let this go, whether it goes beyond the passage of this Bill or not. I am grateful too, to the noble Earl, Lord Minto, for his comments. I am particularly pleased that he agreed with the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and me that it is clear that sexual attacks on UK soil are not part of Section 3 of the Visiting Forces Act, where the exceptions might be. That is extremely helpful and I am very grateful to him. I particularly want to thank the Minister for his extremely well-constructed and considered speech. What is really important is that we find a solution. I agree with the Minister that there is provision in the Visiting Forces Act, so his exposition of that was really important. Our problem, as a Parliament, is that we need to resolve the problem that the victims faced. That is why I am very grateful for his comments about the Police Chiefs’ Council and the guidance it is looking at offering. The one organisation that does not seemed to have a role in any of this at the moment is the CPS. It clearly needs to, as there are issues other than taking the statement of the victim, making sure they seek medical help, and all the other issues I outlined in that specific case. There is also the question of charging levels, which would then affect what happens and whether there might be a reason why the case should be considered elsewhere. I will conclude, because these were only probing amendments on my behalf and that of the noble Lord, Lord Thomas. I wonder whether it would be helpful to have a meeting between Committee and Report with the Minister, somebody from the Home Office who can talk about the policing side and the Police Chiefs’ Council, and somebody from the CPS. What both the noble Baroness, Lady Bennett, and I are trying to achieve is a formal framework that means that one police force cannot do something different from another, and that, as the decision goes up the CPS, the more serious it gets, it should not necessarily stand with a junior prosecutor at the CPS in a particular area. That is how it becomes easy to say, “Yes, okay, take over this case because it will decrease our workload”. That is clearly the argument the US Air Force at Lakenheath were using. On that basis, and given the hour and the number of groups we still have to go through, I will withdraw my amendment.