Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people, in each of the past three years, have been prosecuted under section 127(1) or (2) of the Communications Act 2003.

The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions for offences under section 127(1) or (2) of the Communications Act 2003, in England and Wales, in the Outcomes by Offence tool, available via the following link: Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Using the Offence filter, select ‘196 Communications Act 2003 S.127 - Sending grossly offensive message/matter by electronic communications network’.

The data requested is also provided in the table below.

Total number of defendants prosecuted for offences under section 127(1) or (2) of the Communications Act 2003, England and Wales, 2020 to 2022:

Source: Court Proceedings Database

Notes:

1) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.

2) The figures given in the table relate to defendants for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.

3) The figures given in the table relate to the following offence under section 127(1) or (2) of the Communications Act 2003: '19607 - Improper use of public electronic communications network'.