Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she will take to ensure the House of Commons has adequate opportunities to scrutinise serious crime prevention orders.

Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) are civil protective orders made by the High Court or the Crown Court following an application by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), or, in terrorism-related cases only, the police. There is no role for the House of Commons in this court process.

The original legislative proposals for SCPOs were scrutinised and debated by Parliament during the passage of the Serious Crime Act 2007.

In November 2012, the then Home Secretary presented to Parliament a memorandum to the Home Affairs Committee and the Justice Committee on post-legislative scrutiny of the Serious Crime Act 2007. This report is available in the public domain on GOV.UK at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-legislative-scrutiny-of-the-serious-crime-act-2007

The legislation for SCPOs was later amended by the Serious Crime Act 2015, which was also scrutinised and debated in Parliament.