Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy (a) to toughen sentencing guidelines for people found to have watched videos of child abuse and (b) to not implement the recommendation of the report, published by JUSTICE on 10 June 2019, entitled Prosecuting Sexual Offences, that calls for people found in possession of indecent images of children to not face prosecution if they successfully complete a Conditional Diversion Scheme.

Sentencing guidelines are a matter for the independent Sentencing Council. The courts are required to follow any guidelines relevant to the case before them, including the definitive guideline on Sexual Offences which came into effect on 1 April 2014.

The Government has no current plans to implement the recommendation of the JUSTICE report to pilot a conditional diversion scheme for individuals who have viewed indecent images of children.