Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the statutory presumption of suspended sentences on sentencing outcomes for offences under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978; and whether he has plans to exclude those offences from that presumption.

Parliament has provided the courts with a broad range of sentencing powers to deal effectively and appropriately with offenders convicted of sexual offences against children. For offences involving indecent images of children (under Protection of Children Act 1978 s.1) the law provides for a significant maximum penalty of 10 years’ custody, reflecting the seriousness with which Parliament and the courts treat this type of offending.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the courts. When deciding what sentence to impose the courts consider the circumstances of the offence including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines issued by the independent Sentencing Council.

Sentencing guidelines for offences involving indecent images of children set out that Category A offences should attract the highest sentence starting points. The guidelines set out a range of factors for the court to consider at sentencing including for example, the number and nature of the images, the extent of any sharing, distribution or production, the offender’s level of involvement, whether there is evidence of a sexual interest in children, and any abuse of trust. Courts should also consider the potential harm caused to victims, even where that harm is not directly visible. The relevant sentencing guidelines can be found here: Possession of indecent photograph of child/ Indecent photographs of children.

The Sentencing Act 2026 introduced a presumption for the courts to suspend custodial sentences of 12 months or less. Courts will always be able to send offenders to prison where they have breached a court order, an individual is at significant risk of harm, or there are exceptional circumstances which would justify not suspending the sentence.

The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics on sentencing outcomes for offenders sentenced for a wide range of offences, including offences under section 1 of the Protection of Children Act 1978, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool. This can be downloaded from the Criminal Justice Statistics landing page here: Criminal Justice Statistics.