Clause 21
5:45 pm
Alan Campbell (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office; Tynemouth, Labour)
The UK has one of the most robust systems for managing sex offenders in the world and the Government are committed to strengthening that system further by ensuring that anyone who poses a threat to our society or children is dealt with as firmly as possible.
Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 creates a number of civil orders. The aim of the orders is to protect the public or specific members of the public from sexual harm. The amendment clarifies the law in relation to applications for those civil orders. It confirms that the six-month time limit in section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 does not apply in relation to such applications.
Let me give the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon an example. When the police apply for a foreign travel order restricting an offender’s travel abroad, they must show that the offender’s behaviour since conviction makes it necessary to make the order for the purpose of protecting children generally or any child abroad from serious sexual attack by the offender. If section 127 applied, some of the evidence used to show that the offender posed a risk would have to come from the previous six months. That could pose problems in relation to certain sex offenders who are in custody or coming to the UK after being convicted abroad, as there may be little evidence of any concerning behaviour during the previous six months, although the police may still be concerned that their past behaviour indicates that they pose a high risk. Expressly disapplying the time limit will make it clear that the police can apply for such orders whether or not they have evidence of relevant behaviour in the last six months.
It is important that in appropriate cases we can restrict the activities of offenders who are released from prison or return to the United Kingdom following conviction abroad for sexual offences without having to wait for further evidence of risk to arise. We must take the initiative and be proactive to prevent harm. The change that we are proposing is supported by the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, to whose work I pay tribute.