Clause 7 - Assault of a child under 13 by penetration
Sexual Offences Bill [Lords]
10:15 am
Mr Paul Goggins (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Wythenshawe and Sale East, Labour)
On Tuesday, the hon. Gentleman described his manner of speaking as self-deprecating. His self-deprecation does not, however, conceal his strong feelings about certain issues, and I sense that he feels strongly about this one. He says that the law must be clear. Committee members are clear that we must do our best to achieve clarity through our deliberations. The clause makes it clear that the sexual penetration of the vagina or anus of a child under 13 will always amount to an assault by penetration. The question of consent will always be irrelevant. Our policy is that a child under 13 should be deemed incapable of giving legally significant consent to any form of sexual activity.
The hon. Gentleman describes a scenario involving two 12-year-olds. He did not speculate further about the degree of innocence in that relationship, or whether one of the children might have been, perhaps for some years, the victim of abuse in the family. The individual circumstances of such an offence and of the two children caught up in it will always be a matter of deep deliberation and
consideration. All those circumstances will be taken into account at the point where the CPS has to decide whether to prosecute. If there were a prosecution and a finding of guilt, the question of the penalty would arise. Again, the specific circumstances would always be examined.