Anna Turley – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Anna Turley on 2016-07-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if she will bring forward plans to consolidate existing legislation on online abuse and malicious communication.

Sir Oliver Heald

Legislation that can be used to prosecute online abuse and related offences includes the Protection from Harassment Act 1997; the Malicious Communications Act 1988; and the Communications Act 2003. The Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 made changes to the relevant offences in these last two Acts which aim to ensure that people who commit them are prosecuted and properly punished.

The Government believes that current legislation is sufficient and does not intend to consolidate existing legislation relating to online abuse and malicious communication.