Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to prevent registered sex offenders from changing their names by deed poll.

The system for managing sex offenders and those that pose a risk of sexual harm is a crucial part of preventing sexual violence and delivering our mission to halve violence against women and girls.

The Crime and Policing Bill will introduce a range of legislative changes which will strengthen the management of registered sex offenders. Where the police consider it necessary to protect the public or children or vulnerable adults from sexual harm, it will enable them to serve a notice on offenders requiring them to seek the police’s authorisation before applying to change their name on a specified identity document (namely, a UK passport, driving licence or immigration document). The legislative changes will also require RSOs to notify the police of an intended change of name at least seven days in advance of using it, or if that is not reasonably practicable, as far in advance of their using it as it reasonably practicable.

Our name change restriction focuses on ID documents, which are required for work, overseas travel, and accessing services, because that is where name changes can be monitored and a restriction robustly enforced.