PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE RELATING TO THE REPORT
TUESDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2002
Members present:
Mr Chris Mullin, in the Chair
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Mr David Cameron |
Mr Gwyn Prosser |
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Mrs Janet Dean |
Bob Russell |
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Mr Humfrey Malins |
Angela Watkinson |
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Bridget Prentice |
David Winnick |
The Committee deliberated.
[Adjourned till Wednesday 18 September at a quarter past Ten o'clock.
TUESDAY 22 OCTOBER 2002
Members present:
Mr Chris Mullin, in the Chair
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Mr David Cameron |
Bob Russell |
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Mrs Janet Dean |
Mr Marsha Singh |
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Bridget Prentice |
Mr Tom Watson |
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Mr Gwyn Prosser |
David Winnick |
* * *
Draft Report [The Conduct of Investigations into Past Cases of Abuse in Children's Homes] proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.
Ordered, that the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Paragraphs 1 to 98 read and agreed to.
Paragraph 99 read as follows:
We suggest that the statutory reporting restrictions, which preserve the anonymity of victims of sexual offences, are extended to persons accused of child abuse. We believe that the restrictions should operate to protect the accused until the date of conviction, with provision to lift the restrictions by court order. Although there is a case for extending this recommendation to all sexual offences, for which the victim is granted anonymity, this goes beyond our remit for this inquiry.
Amendment proposed, in line 2, after the words "accused of", to insert the word "historical".—( Bob Russell.)
Question put, that the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
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Ayes, 7 |
Noes, 1 |
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Mr David Cameron |
Mr Marsha Singh |
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Mrs Janet Dean |
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Bridget Prentice |
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Mr Gwyn Prosser |
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Bob Russell |
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Mr Tom Watson |
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David Winnick |
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Another Amendment proposed, in line 1, to leave out from the words "We suggest" to the end of the paragraph and insert the words:
'We have considered whether the statutory reporting restrictions, which preserve the anonymity of victims of sexual offences, should be extended to persons accused of child abuse. We have decided that this would be contrary to the presumption that justice should be open and public. However, we believe that there may be a case for affording some anonymity in the case of historical allegations. It may be that such anonymity should run until the court has decided to proceed with the case, as set out in our proposal in para 92.'—(Mr David Cameron).
Question put, that the Amendment be made.
The Committee divided.
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Ayes, 3 |
Noes, 5 |
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Mr David Cameron |
Mrs Janet Dean |
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Bridget Prentice |
Mr Gwyn Prosser |
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Mr Tom Watson |
Bob Russell |
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Mr Marsha Singh |
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David Winnick |
Paragraph, as amended, agreed to.
Paragraphs 100 to 142 read and agreed to.
Resolved, That the Report be the Fourth Report of the Committee to the House.
Ordered, That the Chairman do make the Report to the House.
Ordered, That the provisions of Standing Order No. 134 (Select Committees (reports)) be applied to the Report.
A paper was ordered to be appended to the Report.
Several Memoranda were ordered to be reported to the House.
[Adjourned till Tuesday 29 October at a quarter past Ten o'clock.
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