Policy background Management of sex offenders
Under Part 2 of the 2003 Act, offenders who receive a conviction, caution, or finding for specified sexual offences are automatically required to provide the police with a record of (amongst other things) their: name, address, date of birth, national insurance number, any foreign travel, where they are living in a household with a child under the age of 18, their bank account and credit card details, and information about their passports or other identity documents. This must be done annually and whenever their details change.
	In addition, Part 2 of the 2003 Act provides for various civil preventative orders, including the Sexual Harm Prevention Order ("SHPO") and the Sexual Risk Order ("SRO"), to protect the public from sexual harm. A SHPO may be imposed on someone who has a finding, conviction or caution for a specified sexual or violent offence. A SHPO may be made either by a court on conviction, or by a magistrates’ court on application by the police or National Crime Agency. An SRO may be imposed on a person without a conviction but who poses a risk of sexual harm.
	These orders can include any prohibition the court considers necessary for the purpose of protecting the public from sexual harm, including the prevention of foreign travel to any country or countries specified in the order. Any prohibition must be necessary for protecting the public in the UK from sexual harm or, in relation to foreign travel, protecting children or vulnerable adults from sexual harm outside the UK.
	In January 2021, the Government published its "Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy " which committed to measures to strengthen these orders. The provisions in Chapter 3 of Part 10 seek to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of these orders and the notification requirements for registered sex offenders by:
Enabling positive obligations to be imposed through SHPOs and SROs.
Making it clear that a court may include an electronic monitoring requirement through SHPOs and SROs.
Providing for the civil standard of proof (‘balance of probabilities’) to apply when the court is deciding an application for an SHPO or SRO (in determining whether the individual has done the act in question).
Removing a requirement for the Secretary of State to prescribe a list of police stations where registered sex offenders must notify and enabling the police to determine and maintain the list directly.
Enabling the police to make sex offenders who are convicted of or cautioned for specified sexual offences abroad subject to notification requirements without the need for a court order.
Providing for the reciprocal enforcement of SHPOs and SROs throughout the United Kingdom.
Enabling the British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police to apply for an SHPO or SRO.
	The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), chaired by Professor Alexis Jay OBE, was set up in 2014 because of serious concerns that some organisations had failed and were continuing to fail to protect children from sexual abuse. IICSA recommended in its Children Outside the UK report, published in January 2020, that more could be done to protect children outside the UK from sexual abuse. In particular, IICSA recommended greater use of foreign travel restrictions through SHPOs and SROs via the establishment and maintenance of a list of countries where children are considered to be at high risk of sexual abuse and exploitation from overseas offenders to be used by police and the courts when considering foreign travel restrictions for offenders through these orders. Sections 172 and 173 gives effect to this IICSA recommendation.