Stalking Protection Bill

Antoinette Sandbach Excerpts

2nd reading: House of Commons
Friday 19th January 2018 Commons Chamber

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Dudley South (Mike Wood), who made some important points. I too pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) for introducing this crucial Bill and to my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham (Alex Chalk), who has long worked hard on this issue and rolled the pitch—if I may say so—in his very able way.

This is a crucial matter for women. It is no coincidence that my hon. Friends the Members for Banbury (Victoria Prentis) and for Cheltenham have, like me, been involved in many prosecutions of such cases. We are aware of the utter devastation it causes to the victims, who often effectively become prisoners in their own homes and live in fear of the impact of stalking behaviour on their families, as was powerfully described by my hon. Friend the Member for Banbury. I therefore welcome the change of attitude in the Bill towards a crime that is so often targeted at women. There has been a sea change like that in attitudes towards domestic violence. Very often in the past, it was treated as a form of obsessive behaviour by a former partner who perhaps had gone a little too far; it was not considered to be serious, as has been said. The number of victims of stalking crimes who then become murder victims illustrates dramatically why the Bill is needed.

There are many advantages to the new technological society we live in, but I fear that we are living our lives in a much more public way now, with many details on the internet. As described, people are using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social media apps, and that makes information more public and increases the risk of stranger stalking. I am delighted, therefore, that I am able to be here to support the Bill. The only reason I am here—well, not the only reason—is that I, too, have a private Member’s Bill in the list, the Fetal Dopplers (Regulation) Bill, which I fear we will not get to today. I am delighted none the less that the Government have instigated a review of fetal dopplers by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, so some good has come out of it.

I will return to the subject of stalking. The devastation and psychological damage it causes is absolutely clear. The rise of the various methods of observing people via the internet, even with privacy settings, increases the ability of stalkers to target their victims—not only their victims, but, as described, their friends and family members—which causes fear and isolation. Currently, there is a gap in the law, especially for those stalked by strangers, which, very importantly, this Bill will address.

I wholeheartedly support the Bill and its aims to introduce this new stalking protection order to protect victims during the early stages of an investigation. Like many other Members in this House, it is my view that that early intervention is likely to make a significant difference in a number of cases. It may not make a difference in all cases, but it is likely to make a real difference in many of them. I am particularly pleased that these orders will be able to be tailor-made and targeted to address the specific issues, or the specific methods by which that intrusive behaviour takes place.

As MPs, we should do all we can to protect our constituents, and since stalking was made an offence in 2012, Cheshire constabulary has recorded continued increases in the number of stalking offences that are committed locally. In 2014-15, Cheshire constabulary recorded 26 stalking offences. That increased locally to 55 recorded offences in 2016-17. It is vital that we prevent this crime from becoming more widespread, that we give the police the tools to crack down at an early stage and that we provide the necessary support to victims.

I am very pleased that the Government are supporting this private Member’s Bill. It is my view that this new legislation will improve the safety of my constituents in Eddisbury by giving the police the power to address the danger that perpetrators pose while they gather more evidence. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes (Dr Wollaston) for the work that she has put in on this issue. I also thank the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Louth and Horncastle (Victoria Atkins), whom I welcome to the Front Bench in her role, for the attention that she has paid to this matter. This is a really important tool in the kit. It is vital now that police forces use the tools provided by this legislation after it passes its final stage.

Stalking Protection Bill (First sitting)

Antoinette Sandbach Excerpts

Committee Debate: House of Commons & Committee: 1st sitting: House of Commons
Monday 9th July 2018 Public Bill Committees

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Victoria Atkins)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Gray. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Totnes for introducing this important issue to the House of Commons through her private Member’s Bill, and for all the hard work that she and those who assist her have put into the Bill. It has been a real pleasure to work with her and to see how she has drawn together all the charities that do so much invaluable work in this area, and how she has created cross-party consensus. I was very pleased when I saw the list of Committee members, because everyone present has worked so hard in this area.

I place on record my thanks to Mr and Mrs Ruggles, whom I met through my hon. Friend in our preparations for the Bill, and to Mr and Mrs Gazzard. I met Mr Gazzard when I visited my hon. Friend the Member for Gloucester, to whom I am also grateful, and we talked a lot about safeguarding and what more we can do to prevent terrible incidents of this nature. Similarly, I must thank my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham, who did so much to increase the maximum sentence available when such crimes have been committed.

I reiterate that the Bill has the Government’s wholehearted support and that the question of stalking is of great importance to the Government. The provisions in the Bill will provide the police with a vital additional tool with which to protect victims of stalking and deter perpetrators at the earliest opportunity, but we know that there is much more to do.

I will answer a couple of sensible questions posed by the hon. Member for Rotherham about the consistency of police training and the police response to investigating stalking across the country. The Home Office continues to work with the national police lead, Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills, and will deliver the updated police guidance shortly. That is being overseen by the Home Secretary, who chairs the national oversight group, which I also attend and which does a great deal of work. The hon. Lady also made a valid point about mandatory police training. Clause 12 provides for statutory guidance to the police on stalking and we are committed to working with the College of Policing to deliver refreshed training across public protection portfolios, because we understand that some forces do much better than others, and we need to bring them all up to the same high standard.

We will continue to work closely with criminal justice partners to address the findings of last year’s joint inspectorate report on the police and CPS response to stalking and harassment, including through the national oversight group. In addition, we have provided £4.1 million through the police transformation fund to the police, in partnership with the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, which is such an important charity in this area, for a multi-agency stalking interventions programme to share best practice and learning on the development of effective interventions for stalking. The proposed stalking protection orders will form part of this bigger picture to tackle stalking, as a vital additional tool at the disposal of our police forces. I very much pick up on the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Cheltenham about these orders placing positive requirements on the defendant to address their own behaviour to see whether we can break that cycle of stalking.

[Antoinette Sandbach (Eddisbury) (Con)]

In today’s digital world, we see a lot of stalking online and through social media; in fact, the very first contacts with a victim can be via that means. Can the Minister confirm that the orders established by the Bill will cover the digital spaces as well as the real-world space, as it were?

[Victoria Atkins]

I am extremely grateful to my hon. Friend, who has done so much to further the cause of women and girls who are the victims of violence, for that intervention. She is absolutely right: the Bill covers the online world as well as the offline world, because we know—sadly—that nowadays obsessive perpetrators will try to reach their victims in any way they can.

However, it is important that we consider protecting women and girls, and indeed men and boys, from all forms of violence, which is why the cross-Government violence against women and girls strategy, published in 2016, sets out our ambition that no victim of abuse should be turned away from the support they need, and we have committed increased funding of £100 million to support that work.