Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of people on the sex offenders register who have changed their name by deed poll in the last three years.

The UK has some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with sex offenders.

Qualifying offenders are required to notify their personal details, including their name, address, date of birth and national insurance number, to their local police station (this system is often referred to as the ‘sex offenders’ register’). This is done annually or whenever their details change. Failure to comply, including failure to notify the police of a name change, is punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment. We recently further strengthened the regime for managing registered sex offenders through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act.

Statistics on registered sex offenders are published in the most annual Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) report. The most recent report showed that on 31 March 2021 there were 64,325 registered sex offenders in England and Wales, and 1,641 breaches of the notification requirements. The number of offenders cautioned or convicted for a breach of notification requirements had been increasing since 2015/16 but declined by 36% in the year to March 2021. A further breakdown of this data is not collated centrally.

The Home Office is carrying out an internal review to better understand the nature of offenders, including registered sex offenders, changing their name and whether this is used to facilitate further offending.

In addition, on 2 March the Home Secretary appointed former chief constable, Mick Creedon, to conduct an independent review into the police management of registered sex offenders in the community. The review will deliver recommendations to HM Government on what needs to be done across the policing landscape to enhance the management of registered sex offenders in the community in England and Wales.