Policy background Extending the offence of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence
The Sexual Offences Act 2003 ("the 2003 Act") contains a number of specific child sex offences. Under the provisions of the Criminal Attempts Act 1981, attempting to commit any of these offences is also an offence in itself.
	At the Ministerial Digital Industry Roundtable 2019, the Five Country Ministers (the UK together with Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA) agreed that "tackling [the online child sexual abuse] epidemic requires an immediate upscaling of the global response to ensure that all children across the globe are protected…and that there is no safe space online for offenders to operate."
	Section 14 of the 2003 Act provides that it is also an offence to undertake acts preparatory to one of the child sexual offences in sections 9 to 13 (rape and other offences against children under 16). Such preparatory acts might, for example, include the (alleged) offender approaching a person requesting that they procure a child for the purpose of sexual activity, or making plans to meet a child they have communicated with online for the purpose of sexual activity. Section 14 can be applied regardless of whether the abuse takes place, as the offence is the preparatory acts taken to arrange or facilitate a child sex offence. Section 14 currently does not apply to the child sex offences in sections 5 to 8 of the 2003 Act (rape and other offences against children under 13). Section 46 addresses this gap in the criminal law.