Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to review sentencing policy for sexual offences against children.

All sexual offences are abhorrent and the most serious offences carry severe maximum penalties. Rape and assault by penetration have a maximum penalty of a life sentence and there is a range of other sexual offences which have a maximum penalty of up to 14 years’ custody. There is an automatic life sentence for a second very serious sexual, or violent, offence, and all dangerous offenders and child rapists are now subject to discretionary release (rather than automatic release) prior to the end of their custodial term.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts, which must follow sentencing guidelines issued by the independent Sentencing Council. The Council issued a new sentencing guideline on sexual offences effective from April 2014, following full public consultation. As well as physical harm, the approach in the new guideline reflects more fully the psychological and longer term effects on the victim, enabling courts to take into account the true extent of what the victim has been through.

The latest criminal justice statistics show that prosecutions and convictions for sexual offences are the highest in the decade (a nine per cent and ten per cent increase respectively in the latest year). Additionally, the average custodial sentence length for offenders convicted of sexual offences was 62 months, which is a rise of 2.9 months in the latest year and an increase of 13 months since 2010.