Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many restraining orders were (a) issued and (b) breached (i) once, (ii) twice, (iii) three times and (iv) on four or more occasions in each of the last three years; how many custodial sentences were given in each category of breach; and what was the average length of sentence issued.

Please find attached a table detailing the number of restraining orders issued in each of the last 3 years in criminal courts.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of defendants prosecuted, convicted and sentenced for breaching a restraining order in criminal courts, for the years 2017-2021, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool 2021.

The number of defendants prosecuted for the offence in question can be found using the ‘Prosecutions and Convictions’ tab. The number of defendants sentenced for the offence in question, along with sentencing outcomes (e.g., immediate custody) can be found using the ‘Sentence Outcomes’ tab. The average custodial sentence length for this offence can be found using the ‘Average Amounts’ tab.

Use the HO offence code filter to select the applicable offences:

• 00831 - Breach of Restraining Order (Protection from Harassment Act 1997)
• 00839 - Breach of Restraining Order (Sex Offenders Act 1997)
• 06638 - Breach of a Restraining Order issued on acquittal

The Ministry of Justice’s court proceedings database records each instance in which a breach offence enters the court system. It is not possible to identify a specific restraining order against which a breach offence has been committed. It is therefore not possible to identify the number of times an individual may have breached the same restraining order, as it may be entered into the system under one or multiple breach offences. This information may be available by accessing court records, however, the costs of making such a search would be disproportionate.