There was one other matter that was raised by Liberty but on which I did not draft an amendment. The organisation made the valid point that there appears to be a potential duplication between assault by penetration and rape. As worded, the fact that assault by penetration does not specifically exclude penetration with the penis might mean that it could be argued that a person who commits rape is also committing assault by penetration. Is that what the Government intended? If the Government wanted to spell it out clearly, it would be necessary to reword clause 3(1), which says that person A commits an offence if

''he intentionally penetrates the vagina or anus of another person (B) with a part of his body or anything else''.