Baroness May of Maidenhead (Con)

My Lords, I support Amendments 82, 83 and 86, in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Russell of Liverpool. I start, if I may, with a point that I made earlier in the debate on Amendment 25. The Government have a strategy on violence against women and girls. They have a clear commitment to reduce violence against women and girls. It seems to me, therefore, that the Government should be looking to make sure that they in no way inadvertently increase the risk of violence against women and girls. This aspect of the Bill—the fact that a perpetrator who has been released, breached their licence by making contact with the victim and is then recalled, could then be automatically released after 56 days—is such a potential loophole, because that individual is highly likely in those circumstances to go back to the victim and potentially further abuse them. The amendments in the name of the noble Lord, Lord Russell, are time-limited. It is recognised that the Government are increasing the capacity of the system to make risk assessments of individuals, but those programmes are not entirely in place at the moment. There is the potential for the Government, by accepting these amendments, to close that loophole and further enhance the ability to prevent violence against women and girls. I heard what the noble Lord, Lord Russell, said about his conversations with the Minister and his expectation, or concern, that perhaps he might not immediately leap to his feet and accept these amendments. I want to pick up one of the points about working with those in the field who are experts on these issues. It is only because of the Domestic Abuse Act that we have a single definition of domestic abuse that is now used across the whole of government. It is a comprehensive definition of domestic abuse, because domestic abuse comes in many different forms. Sadly, many of those in the criminal justice system do not yet fully understand all forms of domestic abuse. It is one of the issues that I know the Government will still have to deal with in making sure that the police, prosecutors, judges and probation officers all understand the panoply of issues that constitute domestic abuse. It is important that, if the Government are not willing to close this loophole by accepting these amendments, they work with experts in the field to make sure that those who are being trained to risk-assess perpetrators are able to do so in the full knowledge and understanding of what constitutes domestic abuse.