§ Ms ShipleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) if his Department's register of sex offenders outlined in the Protection of Children Act 1999 will include British sex offenders who are known to have been convicted abroad;[126778]
(2) what measures he is taking to ensure that British citizens who sexually abuse children are not able to escape registration under the Protection of Children Act 1999 by travelling overseas.[126780]
§ Mr. HuttonThere is nothing in the Protection of Children Act 1999 which would preclude a child care worker from being referred to the Secretary of State for possible inclusion in the list to be maintained under that Act in circumstances where he has been dismissed, or has otherwise left his position, related to a conviction for sexual abuse against children committed abroad.
62WIf a decision is taken to include a person on the list to be kept under the Protection of Children Act 1999 the name will remain on the list irrespective of where the person lives or travels.
As regards the wider question of British sex offenders convicted abroad, Part I of the Sex Offender Act 1997 does not at present require such offenders to register with the police on their return to this country. The Home Office will shortly be starting a major policy review of the Act and this question will be looked at very carefully as part of that review.