Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase sentences for sexual predators.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for our independent courts. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors.

Courts are assisted in setting a sentence by sentencing guidelines which are issued by the Sentencing Council, and which the courts must follow unless it is not in the interests of justice to do so. The Government continues to keep maximum penalties under review to ensure they reflect the seriousness of offending behaviour.

Through the Crime and Policing Bill we are legislating to make grooming a statutory aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences.