Part 5: Protection for victims and witnesses in court Section 65: Prohibition of cross-examination in person in family proceedings New section 31S – Prohibition of cross-examination in person: persons protected by injunctions etc
Section 31S makes provision for a prohibition on cross-examination in person when an "on-notice protective injunction" is in place. The person who is protected by the injunction may not be cross-examined directly by the person against whom the injunction is in force, and the person against whom the injunction is in force may not be cross-examined directly by the person protected by the injunction.
	Subsection (5) sets out what is meant by "on notice" for the purposes of this section.
	The first instance is where the court is satisfied that there has been a hearing at which the person against whom the injunction was made had a chance to ask for it to be varied or set aside. This might occur where the court has made an injunction to last for a given period, without the person against whom it was made having been told that the court was considering making the injunction (a "without notice" injunction). If there has since been a hearing which the person against whom the injunction was made was informed about, and at which that person could have asked the court to vary or remove the order, then that injunction will be considered "on notice" for the purpose of this section.
	The second instance is where the injunction was made at a hearing and the court is satisfied that both the person protected by the injunction and the person against whom it was made had been informed about the hearing.
	Section 31S(4) provides that "protective injunctions" are to be specified in regulations made by the Lord Chancellor. It is intended to use those regulations to specify a comprehensive list of protective injunctions or similar, based on the definition of "protective injunction" in paragraph 22 of Schedule 1 to the Civil Legal Aid (Procedure) Regulations 2012, as amended. It is intended to include, for example, non-molestation orders made under the Family Law Act 1996 and DAPOs made under Part 3 of the Act.
	Section 31S(3) confirms that if cross-examination takes place in breach of the provision, because the court was not aware of the existence of the on-notice protective injunction at the time the cross-examination took place, then the validity of decisions made by the court is not affected.