Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of police powers and guidance to identify and intervene against individuals who send unsolicited sexually explicit communications causing alarm or distress, where the evidential threshold for prosecution is not met.

This Government is committed to strengthening the police response to non-contact sexual offences, including the sending of unsolicited sexually explicit communications.

Police have a range of powers and tools available to identify, manage and disrupt individuals who pose a risk of sexual harm, including the use of civil protective orders, such as Sexual Risk Orders.

Sexual Risk Orders are available, on application by the police to the court, to manage individuals who pose a risk of sexual harm in the UK or abroad, including where they have not been convicted of an offence.

Courts can impose tailored prohibitions and requirements, including restrictions on online activities where the statutory test is met and such measures are necessary to protect the public from sexual harm. Breach of a Sexual Risk Order is a criminal offence punishable by up to five years' imprisonment.

We have supported the establishment of the National Centre for Violence Against Women and Girls and Public Protection, to continually improve policing standards and ensure there is full use of every tool available to the police to identify, pursue, disrupt and manage perpetrators.