Orders imposed on sex offenders
Section 22 Time limits
176.Subsections (1) and (2) amend the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to expressly disapply section 127 of the Magistrates’ Courts Act 1980 in relation to applications for civil orders made under Part 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. Consequently, the provision confirms that the requirement imposed by section 127, that some evidence provided in support of an application for an order must relate to conduct that has occurred within the six months prior to the application being made, does not apply to these civil orders.
177.Subsection (3) makes an equivalent amendment to exclude Article 78 of the Magistrates’ Court (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 from applying to applications made for these civil orders in Northern Ireland.
Section 23 Foreign travel orders: grounds
178.Subsection (1) amends any reference to children under 16 in sections 115 and 116 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to children under 18. The effect of this is that it raises the age of a child that must be at risk in order for a foreign travel order to be made. It also alters the criteria determining which offenders qualify for a foreign travel order, to include those that have committed sexual offences against children under 18, not just those that have committed offences against children under 16.
179.Subsection (2) provides that these amendments apply in relation to the making, variation, renewal or discharge of foreign travel orders after the commencement of this section.
Section 24 Foreign travel orders: duration
180.Subsection (1) amends section 117 the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to extend the maximum duration of a foreign travel order from six months to five years, in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland.
181.Subsection (2) provides that this amendment applies to the making, variation or renewal of a foreign travel order after this section has been commenced.
Section 25 Foreign travel orders: surrender of passports
182.Subsection (2) inserts a new section 117A into the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to require offenders who are subject to a foreign travel order that prohibits them from travelling anywhere outside the UK to surrender their passports at a police station specified in the order.
183.This section also requires the police to return any passport as soon as reasonably practicable after the relevant Foreign Travel Order has ceased, unless that passport is a foreign passport or a passport issued by an international organisation and it has been returned to the authorities outside the United Kingdom which issued the passport.
184.Subsection (3) amends section 122 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to create a new offence of failing to comply with a requirement to surrender a passport.
185.Subsection (4) provides that this amendment made by subsection (2) applies to the making, variation or renewal of a foreign travel order after this section has been commenced.
