Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to introduce legislation to make it an offence to repeatedly order goods or services for another person if the purpose of such actions is to cause distress, anxiety or to disrupt that person's daily life.

The Protection from Harassment Act 1997 (the 1997 Act) already makes it an offence for someone to pursue a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another and which they know, or ought to know, amounts to harassment of the other. Harassment is generally understood to involve improper, oppressive and unreasonable conduct that is targeted at an individual and calculated to alarm them or cause them distress.

Depending on the circumstances, repeatedly sending letters or unwanted 'gifts' or other objects to someone or arranging for others to deliver unwanted items to them could constitute harassment. Where such behaviour is reported to the police, it would be for them to investigate, for the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether a prosecution should be brought, and for the court to determine whether the elements of the offence are made out.

The Government has no plans to introduce additional legislation in this area.