§ Mr. KINGasked the Home Secretary whether he will take steps with a view to the making of rules under the Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1879, and the Children Act, 1908, by which in every case of proceedings for a sexual offence in respect of a girl under the age of sixteen the court of summary jurisdiction shall be cleared to the full extent allowed by law while the girl is giving evidence, subject to the right of the mother or some other female relative or friend of the girl to be present; and whether he will communicate with justices' clerks and the police authorities with a view to having the preliminary statements of such girls as regards such offences made privately to women?
§ Sir JOHN SIMONThere is no power to make formal rules for the purpose mentioned in the question, but Section 114 of the Children Act gives the justices power to hear such cases in private, and the Home Office, in a circular issued a few years ago, urged that "where a girl appears as a witness in a case of the nature now in question she should not be examined without the presence of a woman, either her mother or some relative or friend, and where she is not accompanied by her mother or anyone standing in the place of her mother, it will generally be advisable to utilise the services of a police matron. The Secretary of State considers that in the interests of justice as well as of humanity it is of great importance that every possible means should be taken to lessen the strain inevitably put upon modest girls in such circumstances." The same considerations apply to the taking of any preliminary statements by the police.