Voyeurism (Offences) (No. 2) Bill: Lords stages

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No changes were suggested to the bill ahead of third reading. Members discussed the passage of the bill at the conclusion of its Lords stages.

Both Houses have now agreed on the text of the bill. It received Royal Assent, when it became an Act of Parliament (law), on Tuesday 12 February.

Lords report stage: Tuesday 18 December

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No changes were suggested to the bill ahead of report stage.

Third reading, a chance to 'tidy up' the bill and make changes, is yet to be scheduled.

Lords committee stage: Monday 26 November

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Members discussed the recording of images which invade the privacy of persons and disclosure of images for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime.

Lords second reading: Tuesday 23 October

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Members discussed a number of issues raised by the bill, including the online sharing of non-consensual intimate images, the targeting of vulnerable victims and the current Law Commission review into the classification of misogyny and misandry as hate crimes.

Lord Keen of Elie (Conservative), Lords spokesperson in the Ministry of Justice, responded on behalf of the government.

Voyeurism (Offences) (No. 2) Bill summary

This bill will aim to insert two new offences in the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to cover the practice known colloquially as ‘upskirting'.

The new offences would apply in instances when:

• without consent, an individual operates equipment or records an image beneath a person's clothing to observe their genitalia or buttocks, whether covered or uncovered by underwear garments
• the offender has a motive of either obtaining sexual gratification or causing humiliation, distress or alarm to the victim.

The bill would also ensure that the most serious offenders, where the purpose of the offence is for sexual gratification, are made subject to notification requirements (often referred to as being placed on the ‘sex offenders register').

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