Key Facts

• Amendments include 103, 98, 99, 100, 102, and 104.
• The amendments cover areas such as guidance issuance, reporting requirements, consultation with communities, and training for police officers.
• Clause 140 stands part as amended.
• The proposed SVROs would allow officers to search individuals without reasonable grounds once an SVRO is in place.
• Violent crimes have reached record levels, with police dealing with 4,900 violent crimes per day on average in the last year.
• In the year ending September 2020, violence against the person reached 1.79 million offences—its highest level since comparative records began in 2002-03.
• Stop-and-search powers resulted in a criminal justice outcome linked to the purpose of the search only around 20% of the time.
• A study published in the British Journal of Criminology found stop-and-search has a marginal impact on crime.
• In 2019-20, nearly 80% of searches resulted in officers finding nothing; only 1.4% of pre-condition searches led to officers finding a knife or offensive weapon.
• HMICFRS reviewed 9,378 search records and found that 14% had grounds not considered reasonable.
• Stop-and-search is a controversial tool that should be used effectively based on local intelligence.
• Clause 139 permits an SVRO if a bladed article or offensive weapon was used during the offence or if another person committing the offence had such a weapon and the offender ought to have known this.
• Proposed new section 342D allows for SVROs to be issued for two years, with no less than six months, and can be renewed indefinitely.
• Black people were nine times more likely to be searched than white people in 2019-20.
• An estimated 85% of black people in the UK are not confident they would be treated the same as a white person by the police.
• The House of Commons Library states that there is no evidence suggesting BME people are more likely to carry items for which officers have powers to search or be involved in criminality associated with stop and search enforcement.
• During the first lockdown, London saw a huge increase in stop and search rates, leading to complaints about improper handcuffing practices.
• Amendment 102 requires the Secretary of State to issue guidance before any pilot could commence.
• Amendments 98 and 99 would make provision for a report under subsection (3) of proposed new section 342J, including information on ethnicity and number of people subject to orders without evidence of weapon handling.
• Amendment 104 requires all police officers in pilot force areas to have completed College of Policing training before using serious violence reduction orders.
• SVROs give police powers to search offenders convicted of knife-related crimes.
• KCPOs were introduced in the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and are available for people aged 12 and above.
• A pilot programme for KCPOs will start on July 5th with the Metropolitan police.
• Young black people are 24 times more likely to be victims of homicide than young white people.
• SVROs will be piloted in Merseyside, Thames Valley, Sussex, and West Midlands police forces.
• The four pilot areas account for 80% of all hospital admissions for injury with a sharp object.
• West Midlands has the third highest rate of knife crime in England and Wales, while Merseyside has the sixth.
• Piloting of SVROs will test deterrence effects, assess impact on vulnerable offenders, and examine potential disparities.
• Four police forces are selected for piloting to capture sufficient demographic data including ethnicity.
• Community representatives will scrutinise stop-and-search records and engage in local scrutiny panels.
• Statutory guidance on stop-and-search is updated by the College of Policing.
• New clause 65 proposes a review into how registered sex offenders change their names or other aspects of their identity.
• The Secretary of State must report findings to Parliament within 12 months after the Act is passed.
• The review must consult police officers responsible for sex offender management, HM Passport Office, and DVLA.
• More than 16,000 offenders have breached notification requirements in the past five years.
• At least 905 registered sex offenders had gone missing between 2017 and 2020.
• The current name-change process costs £42.44 at the Royal Courts of Justice and can be done within a few days.
• Some offenders change their names from prison for as little as a £15 administration fee.
• There are currently 100,000 sex offenders on the register.
• The government aims to change guidance so only enrolled deed polls are seen as official name changes.
• Sex offenders should have a marker on their file at DVLA, HMPO, and DBS database.
• New clause 65 is supported by over 35 MPs including Chair of the Education Committee Robert Halfon and Chair of Women and Equalities Committee Caroline Nokes.