Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to make public sexual harassment a criminal offence.

This Government is committed to taking action to tackle public sexual harassment, that is why in March we announced we will launch a public consultation by the summer recess on whether there should be a new offence of public sexual harassment.

We are also taking several non-legislative actions to address this issue. In September 2021 we launched the pilot of the new StreetSafe tool, which allows people to show on a map places where they have felt unsafe, enabling the police to take action to improve safety. More than 15,000 reports have been submitted through this.

Last December, the College of Policing published new guidance for police showing what they can do when they receive a report of public sexual harassment: the criminal offences available and other protective tools which can be used. Furthermore, the Home Office launched the ‘Enough’ communications campaign in March, which challenges public attitudes and tolerance towards crimes such as public sexual harassment and aims to ensure victims know how and where to report it.