Alex White (Labour)

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 16, lines 29 and 30, to delete ", as part of the offender's sentence," and substitute ", by way of a civil order following conviction,".

This is an attempt to change the section because it seems to be wrong conceptually to categorise a post-release order as part of a sentence. Perhaps it was badly drafted. Will the Minister provide a response which would justify categorising a post release order in this way? A post release order appears to be an order which is designed to prevent reoffending. It is not much different from orders in regard to the sex offenders register, anti-social behaviour orders or orders that stalkers cease to contact their victims, which are the kind of orders with which we are familiar. It would appear to be inappropriate to categorise, as the Bill does, these post release orders as part of the offender's sentence. The suggestion is to remove those words and insert "by way of a civil order following conviction,".