§ Mr. StephenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will increase the penalty for possession of videotapes which are obscene by reason of the sexual or violent nature of their contents in cases where it is not alleged that trading has taken place.
§ Mr. JackThe simple possession of an obscene videotape is not in itself a criminal offence, and the 273W Government have no plans to make it so. It is, however, an offence under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 to possess an indecent photograph, film or video recording of a child under the age of 16, subject to a maximum penalty on summary conviction of a level 5 fine (currently £5,000). It is also an offence under the Protection of Children Act 1978 to possess indecent pictures of this sort with a view to their distribution, while the Obscene Publications Act 1959, as amended by the Obscene Publications Act 1964, makes it an offence to have an obscene article for publication for gain. The offences under the 1959 and 1978 Acts are both subject to a maximum penalty on conviction on indictment of three years' imprisonment or an unlimited fine, or both. The Video Recordings Act 1984 prohibits the possesssion of an unclassified video recording for the purposes of supplying it, unless the recording is exempt from classification, or the supply, if it took place, would be an exempted supply. This offence is subject to a maximum penalty on summary conviction of a £20,000 fine.
The Government have no immediate plans to increase the penalties for these offences.
§ Mr. StephenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make it his policy to engage private contractors to assist the police to search for and seize pornographic material and to recover the costs of such action from those who import, distribute, and sell, such material;
(2) what plans he has to encourage the use of section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 to order the seizure of pornographic magazines, books, videos, and other materials; and if he will make a statement;
(3) what assessment he has made of the desirability of changing the rules of evidence so as to enable pornographic magazines, books, videos and other materials to be seized more cheaply and efficiently.
§ Mr. JackAs I indicated in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Castle Point on 5 February at column350, we are currently considering what improvements might be made in the enforcement of the Obscene Publications Acts 1959 and 1964, and other legislation relating to obscenity. This includes consideration of possible improvements in the effectiveness of the operation of section 3 of the Obscene Publications Act 1959, which enables the police to obtain a magistrate's warrant to search for and seize obscene articles kept for publication for gain, and provides that such articles shall be brought before the magistrates for forfeiture.
The deployment of police resources in matters such as seizures is an operational matter for chief constables and it would not be right for my right hon. and learned Friend to seek to influence the priority which they attach to the various demands placed upon them. There is no evidence that chief constables are unaware of their powers in this area. In 1992, over 17,000 video tapes were seized by the Metropolitan and Greater Manchester forces alone.