Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012

The draft Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 was laid before both Houses on 5 March 2012.

On 21 April 2010, in the case of 'R (on the application of F and Angus Aubrey Thompson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department' [2010] UKSC 17, the Supreme Court made a declaration of incompatibility under section 4 of the Human Rights Act 1998 in respect of notification requirements for an indefinite period, under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The Supreme Court specifically found indefinite notification requirements for sex offenders, with no opportunity for review, to be incompatible with Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

In accordance with the non-urgent remedial order process under paragraph 3 of Schedule 2 to the 1998 Act, the Department laid a proposal before Parliament on 16 June 2011. The JCHR published a report on 13 October 2011  and made a number of recommendations. Following careful consideration of the representations made in relation to the proposal, the Government has now laid the draft Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 before Parliament. This order is laid in draft before Parliament for a further 60 day period, before resolutions from each House can be sought.

The government’s response to the report of the JCHR: The Government reply to the Nineteenth Report of Session 2010 - 12 HC 1549 Proposal for the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2011 is now available to download below.

Government response to JCHR report

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 and Explanatory Notes will shortly be avaialble on legislation.gov.uk.

What will the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 do?

  • The draft Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 seeks to introduce a mechanism for reviewing the indefinite notification requirements under section 82(1) of the 2003 Act.
  • The review process outlined within the draft Remedial Order would be triggered by an offender who is subject to indefinite notification requirements making an application to the police. In a typical case, the offender would be entitled to make an application 15 years following that offender’s release from custody.
  • The review will be carried out by the police and will be completed on the basis of a range of factors, including information provided from the Responsible Authority and Duty to Co-operate agencies which operate within the Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) framework (under section 325 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003).
  • The basis for the review decision is outlined within the proposed new section 91D(2) of the draft order.
  • Public safety will always be the first priority for the government. We are making sure that we have a process that is robust, workable and puts public protection first, while at the same time preventing sex offenders being able to waste taxpayers’ money by repeatedly challenging our laws.
  • Sex offenders who continue to pose a risk will remain on the register and will do so for life, if necessary.

We expect that the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012 will be in force from summer 2012, subject to Parliamentary business. No adult offenders will become eligible to apply for a review of their notification requirements before September 2012, 15 years from the notification requirements being introduced in the Sex Offenders Act 1997.

Useful documents

Sex offender policy is a devolved area. Following a period of consultation on the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) (Scotland) Order 2010, this order was revoked and replaced by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) (Scotland) Order 2011, which came into force on 28 January 2011.

A consultation on proposals in Northern Ireland closed on 5th October 2011.

Related information

The Home Office has also introduced The Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Notification Requirements) (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 which will extend and strengthen the system of notification requirements placed on registered sex offenders (commonly referred to as the sex offenders' register).

Further information on these new measures is now available.

Please email SexOffenderManagement@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk if you have any queries relating to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (Remedial) Order 2012.

Date: Mon Mar 05 09:04:00 GMT 2012

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