To ask the Minister of Justice to detail any measures her Department is taking to tackle the growing issue of sexual violence and abuse within digital spaces, including the spread of non-consensual intimate images and online misogynistic abuse.

Sexual violence and abuse in any form is totally unacceptable. I am mindful of the growing prevalence of online violence and abuse as our modern technologies continue to advance at a concerning rate, and that the majority of such abuse is targeted against females. While online safety is a reserved matter, I look for opportunities that are available within the devolved space to strengthen the law to help provide further protections from sexual predators.

There is already a comprehensive and robust legal framework for sexual offences in place in Northern Ireland, which is contained, for the most part, within the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008. The offences address both online and offline behaviour.

I strengthened the law in the last Assembly mandate by introducing a range of new offences via the Justice (Sexual Offences and Trafficking Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2022, to include upskirting, downblousing, cyber flashing as well as four new offences designed to tackle the particular behaviour of an adult pretending to be a child for the purposes of child sexual grooming, which are unique to Northern Ireland. I also reinforced the offence of disclosure of private sexual images, more commonly referred to as ‘revenge porn’, by bringing threatening to disclose within its definition.

I have been in contact with the UK Government on a range of proposals intended for its upcoming Crime and Policing Bill. This included a proposal to introduce a new offence of creating a sexually explicit deepfake image without consent which I was keen to extend to Northern Ireland. However, this proposal has since been brought forward for England and Wales by way of amendment to the current Data (Access and Use) Bill tabled by the UK Government on 22 January 2025. As we were not made aware of this change of plan by the UK Government in advance, I am now considering the implications for Northern Ireland. I remain committed to strengthening the protection for victims of deepfake imagery.