Sexual Offences: Registration
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating the registration of Sex Offenders under the Sexual Offenders Act 2003 to include a private police record of (a) email address, (b) telephone numbers, (c) (i) registration and (ii) monitoring of any tablet and computer devices and (d) other information.
Answered by Dame Diana Johnson
The Crime and Policing Bill has already introduced a number of measures which will strengthen the management of sex offenders, including requiring registered sex offenders to provide notification in advance of changing their name and placing restrictions on certain offenders changing their name without seeking police authorisation.
In addition to the above measures, regulations will be made under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 which expand the notifiable information that must be provided by registered sex offenders. The additional notifiable information will include:
- Change of gender;
- Changes in the cohabitants at their home address;
- Telephone numbers;
- Email addresses;
- Details of any employment, self-employment or voluntary positions;
- User-to-user internet service accounts (e.g., social media or dating app accounts); and
- Details of all identity documents held.
The changes to the notifiable information will allow the police to monitor registered sex offenders more closely and protect the public from the risk of sexual harm. We will continue to keep this area under review as we formulate our long term strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
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