Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Bill — House of Commons, 2017-02-24
Topic: Mixed Topics
John Simon Bercow (Conservative, Centre-right): With this it will be convenient to discuss the following: New clause 10—Recommendations by GREVIO and the Committee of the Parties (No. 2)— "Any recommendations or reports by GREVIO (that is the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence) or the Committee of the Parties (that is the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention)) must be debated in Parliament before any Government response is given." New clause 11—Annual statistics— "The Government must use its best endeavours to obtain statistics on the levels of violence against men, women and all domestic violence victims in each country who are ratified members of the Convention and to make them publicly available and published annually." New clause 12—Quarterly statistics— "The Government must use its best endeavours to obtain statistics on the levels of violence against men, women and all domestic violence victims who are ratified members of the Convention and to make them publicly available and published quarterly." New clause 14—Limitation on reservations concerning Article 44— "The United Kingdom shall not make its ratification subject to any declaration as provided for under paragraph 2 of Article 78 of the Convention that it will not establish jurisdiction under Article 44 when the offence established with the Convention is committed by a person who has her or his habitual residence in the United Kingdom." New clause 15—Territorial application— "The United Kingdom shall not make its ratification subject to any restriction on territorial application under Article 77 of the Convention." New clause 16—Victims of forced marriage— "The United Kingdom shall not make its ratification subject to any restriction on its right to take the necessary legislation or other measures referred to in Article 59.4." New clause 17—Compensation awarded to those who have sustained serious bodily injury or impairment of health— "No ratification of the Convention shall be made by the United Kingdom unless at the time of depositing its instrument of ratification it declares that it reserves the right not to apply the provisions of Article 30 paragraph 2." New clause 18—Limitation on reservations concerning psychological violence and stalking— "The United Kingdom shall not make its ratification subject to any declaration as provided for under paragraph 3 of Article 78 that it reserves the right to provide for non-criminal sanctions for the behaviours referred to in Article 33 and Article 34." New clause 19—Reservations— "Nothing in this Bill shall prevent the United Kingdom ratifying the Istanbul Convention with reservations as provided for in paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 78." New clause 20—Requirement to denounce of the Convention after five years— "The United Kingdom Government shall denounce the Istanbul Convention no later than five years after it has ratified the Convention." Government amendment 1, leave out clause 1 This amendment leaves out clause 1. Amendment 56, in clause 1, page 1, line 6, at end insert— "without making any reservations under Article 78 of the Convention." Amendment 57, in clause 2, page 1, line 11, after "Convention" insert "without reservations" Government amendment 2, page 1, line 12, leave out "date by" and insert "timescale within" This amendment requires the Secretary of State to report on the timescale within which she expects the Istanbul Convention to be ratified, rather than the date. Amendment 58, page 1, line 13, at end insert "without reservations." Amendment 24, page 1, line 14, leave out from "laid" to end of the subsection and insert "when reasonably practicable" Government amendment 3, page 1, line 14, leave out "within four weeks of this Act receiving Royal Assent" and insert "as soon as reasonably practicable after this Act comes into force" This amendment changes the deadline for a report under clause 2 from four weeks from Royal Assent to as soon as reasonably practicable after commencement. Amendment 22, page 1, line 14, leave out "four weeks" and insert "three years" Government amendment 4, page 1, line 16, leave out "Her Majesty’s Government" and insert "the Secretary of State" This amendment means the obligation to make a statement to Parliament will fall on the Secretary of State, rather than Her Majesty’s Government generally. Amendment 59, page 1, line 17, after "Convention" insert "without reservations" Government amendment 5, page 1, line 17, leave out "it" and insert "the Secretary of State" This amendment is consequential on amendment 4. Government amendment 6, page 1, line 19, leave out "its" and insert "the" This amendment is consequential on amendment 4. Government amendment 7, page 1, line 20, leave out "the Convention will be" and insert— "the Secretary of State would expect the Convention to be" This amendment means the Secretary of State will be required to make a statement detailing when she would expect the Istanbul Convention to be ratified, rather than when it will be so ratified. Amendment 25, in clause 3, page 2, line 2, leave out "each year" and insert "biennially" Government amendment 8, page 2, line 2, after "each year" insert "until ratification" This amendment makes clear that the government will only have to report on progress towards ratification until ratification has taken place (see amendment 14). Government amendment 9, page 2, line 4, leave out paragraph (a) and insert— "(a) if a report has been laid under section 2(1), any alteration in the timescale specified in that report in accordance with subsection (1)(b) and the reasons for its alteration;" This amendment is designed to avoid the implication that a report under clause 2 will necessarily have been issued before a report is required under clause 3. Amendment 26, page 2, line 4, leave out paragraph (a) Amendment 27, page 2, line 7, leave out paragraph (b) Government amendment 10, page 2, line 7, leave out "(before ratification)" This amendment is consequential on amendment 8. Amendment 28, page 2, line 10, leave out paragraph (c) Government amendment 11, page 2, line 10, leave out "(before ratification)" This amendment is consequential on amendment 8. Government amendment 12, page 2, line 11, leave out "to" and insert "in" This amendment changes a reference to legislative proposals being brought forward "to" the devolved legislatures to legislative proposals being brought forward "in" the devolved legislatures - which is the usual formulation. Amendment 29, page 2, line 14, leave out paragraph (d) Government amendment 13, page 2, line 14, leave out "(before ratification)" This amendment is consequential on amendment 8. Government amendment 14, page 2, line 16, leave out paragraph (e) This amendment removes the ongoing reporting obligation in clause 3(1)(e). Amendment 49, page 2, line 25, at end insert— "and produce a breakdown of government spending on victims of violence and domestic violence for both men and women." Amendment 50, page 2, line 27, after "violence" insert— "and provide statistics showing international comparison on levels of violence against women and men" Amendment 51, page 2, line 31, at end insert— "and to include the names of these organisations" Amendment 60, page 2, line 31, at end insert— "(f) the costs to the Exchequer of the measures set out in subsection (1)(e)." Amendment 52, page 2, line 32, leave out "annual" and insert "biennial". Amendment 53, page 2, line 32, leave out "1 November 2017" and insert "1 January 2020" Amendment 54, page 2, line 33, leave out "1 November each year" and insert— "1 January every 2 years" Amendment 55, in clause 4, page 2, line 37, leave out from "Act" to end of subsection and insert— "will not come into force until 90% of the signatories to the Convention have ratified it and there has been a proven reduction in violence against women in 75% of the countries who have ratified the Convention." Government amendment 15, page 2, line 37, leave out "on the day on which this Act receives Royal Assent" and insert— "at the end of the period of 2 months beginning with the day on which this Act is passed" This amendment means the Act will be brought into force two months following Royal Assent, rather than immediately on Royal Assent. Government amendment 16, in title, line 1, leave out "Require the United Kingdom to ratify" and insert— "Make provision in connection with the ratification by the United Kingdom of" This amendment is consequential on amendment 7. Government amendment 17, in title, line 3, leave out "; and for connected purposes" This amendment is consequential on amendment 16.