Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of granting anonymity to female and male victims of image-based sexual abuse.

We recognise that image-based sexual abuse, such as the behaviour criminalised by section 33 of the Criminal Justice Act 2015, is a terrible abuse of trust, and that it may leave victims feeling humiliated and degraded.

We do not consider, however, that it is necessary to extend to complainants in section 33 cases the automatic prohibition on identification that applies, exceptionally, to sexual offences under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992. In respect of a witness in any criminal case there is the possibility of applying to the courts for reporting restrictions to provide lifetime protection from being identified in the media; such restrictions will be considered if the quality of the witness’s evidence is likely to be diminished as a result of fear or distress at the possibility of being publicly identified. Special measures, such as giving evidence away from the court room or from behind a screen, are also available.