High risk countries list for travel orders
IICSA · Children Outside the United Kingdom Phase 2 Investigation Report · Issued 30 January 2020 · Addressed to: Home Office
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, J
The Home Office should bring forward legislation providing for the establishment and maintenance by the National Crime Agency of a list of countries where children are considered to be at high risk of sexual abuse and exploitation from overseas offenders. This list should be kept under regular review. The list of countries should be made available to the police, and used routinely to help identify whether a person who has been charged with sexual offences against a child poses a risk to children overseas based on their travel history and/or plans. If the person is considered to pose a risk of sexual harm to children overseas, the police should submit an application for a foreign travel restriction order under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. The list of countries should be admissible in court and used when considering whether a foreign travel restriction order should be made under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and if so, to which countries it should apply.
IICSA, Children Outside the United Kingdom Phase 2 Investigation Report · 30 Jan 2020 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- In May 2023, the government stated that this recommendation had been accepted and that legislation would be brought forward when parliamentary time allowed (Government Response to IICSA Final Report, HM Government, May 2023).
- No legislation establishing such a list has been identified on legislation.gov.uk to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●UK Government
On 21 January 2021, the Home Office confirmed that it would bring forward the necessary legislation to give effect to this recommendation when parliamentary time allows. The Home Office stated that it had commissioned the National Crime Agency to produce a list of countries where children overseas are considered to be at high risk of sexual abuse and exploitation from UK nationals and residents. On 28 February 2022, the Home Office stated that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill would confer a power on the Secretary of State to prepare (or direct a relevant person, such as the National Crime Agency, to prepare) a list of countries deemed to be at 'high risk' of child sexual abuse by UK nationals. This list would be considered by applicants and the courts when applying for – or making – a Sexual Harm Prevention Order or Sexual Risk Order, for the purpose of protecting children outside the UK from the risk of sexual harm from a UK national. On 28 April 2022, the Bill received Royal Assent, and sections 172 and 173 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 reflect these changes.
UK Government · 22 May 2023 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
No published activity has been recorded against this recommendation yet.
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.