Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what (a) guidance he has issued to police forces and (b) data his Department is collecting on the recording of data on harassment offences where sex or gender is a relevant factor.

Public sexual harassment is an appalling crime which the Government is committed to tackling. Women have the right to both be and feel safe on our streets.

The Government has already taken significant action to tackle it, including supporting the Protection from Sex-Based Harassment in Public Act 2023 (sponsored by Rt Hon. Greg Clark MP and Lord Wolfson of Tredegar KC), which makes public sexual harassment a specific offence.

As with any new criminal justice legislation, an implementation period is necessary to ensure all processes, systems and guidance are updated – including drawing up the statutory guidance. We will ensure the legislation comes into force as quickly as reasonably possible.

We have ensured that new guidance was published for police and prosecutors on existing offences, have provided £160 million through five rounds of the Safer Streets and Safety of Women at Night Funds to make our streets safer, have created the new StreetSafe tool which allows people to pinpoint where they have felt unsafe and the police to take action, and have launched the ground-breaking ‘Enough’ communications campaign.