Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to implement stalking protection notices that would be issued by police officers pending a full application to court.

Stalking Protection Orders (SPOs) are civil orders which can be imposed on anyone who has carried out acts associated with stalking and who poses a risk. They are available to the police on application to the court and can impose restrictions considered necessary. The police may also apply for an interim SPO, for example, if there is an immediate risk of harm but further investigation is required to meet the criteria for a full SPO, or when the court is unable to provide the full order in time.

We are legislating through the Crime and Policing Bill to enable the courts to impose SPOs on conviction and acquittal of their own volition.