Before Easter, the Government released a long-awaited update on its action to tackle child sexual abuse. We’ve taken some time to reflect on the cumulative impacts of the proposals and whether they can provide the impetus for the system-wide changes needed to prevent and better respond to child sexual abuse.
We welcome the Government’s action plan to address the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommendations and tackle child sexual abuse. There are a number of areas where the details of the plans for implementation have yet to be ironed out. We look forward to working with the Government on these. We’ll continue to advocate for evidence-informed interventions, aimed at preventing child sexual abuse before it happens.
We thank the Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips for her passion and willingness to be “pushed for more” and be held to account to achieve as much as possible for children. We will continue to do so to achieve a world in which children live free from sexual abuse.
A consistent, coordinated cross-government approach could make a huge difference
A well-informed public health approach to preventing child sexual abuse recognises that no single department or agency can tackle this problem alone. We are encouraged by the planned cross-government approach to tackling child sexual abuse with ministerial-level oversight. We strongly support this approach however, this must be coupled with strong leadership and continued momentum to bring about a unified, coordinated and consistent approach to tackling child sexual abuse.
We need an informed public narrative around child sexual abuse
The Government must commit to ensuring that the national communication plan on child sexual abuse is grounded in evidence and finally dislodges the sensationalised narratives that have dominated our headlines. These act as a distraction to protecting children. We would welcome an evidence-informed, cross-channel public health campaign that improves awareness and understanding of the prevalence of child sexual abuse. The campaign should aim to support people to confidently recognise the signs of abuse and to take steps to prevent people from sexually abusing children in the first place.
The reality is that over a third of reported cases of child sexual abuse involve abuse by a family member, and our current interventions do not adequately recognise this. We welcome the focus on intrafamilial harm and strengthening training, standards, and guidance for social workers and children’s services. We will closely follow the development of the joint thematic review into child abuse in familial settings, which will help build the evidence base for prevention measures. We are also particularly interested in hearing further details on the action to develop Practice Guides for leaders and practitioners on how to prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.
The Child Protection Authority has huge potential
We would like to see a well-resourced and powerful Child Protection Authority that will enable the cultural change that is needed to make effective child protection part of our everyday language, knowledge and practice. To this end, we welcome the creation of the Child Protection Authority, which will evolve from the National Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. We look forward to contributing to consultations on its formation. In particular, we have questions about where inspectorate powers will lie and the overall power of the Child Protection Authority to strengthen prevention measures.
Strong safeguarding cultures will also help organisations and individuals to feel confident to report child sexual abuse. We welcome the Government’s approach of imposing professional sanctions for a failure to report child sexual abuse and a criminal offence for obstructing a reporter from making a report. However, we encourage the Government to go further so that the criminal offence can include wider acts of wilful concealment or cover-up.
In addition, we welcome the move to help ensure the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme is used and applied consistently across all police forces and to drive up the number of applications made. However, this scheme has the potential to create a false sense of security in those who make an application. Therefore, we would want to see any statutory guidance coupled with high-quality information for applicants to ensure the safety of children, as was the case when we helped develop the scheme originally.
The internet should help children flourish, not harm them
Finally, we welcome measures to address the evolving online threat of child sexual abuse and exploitation to ensure that the internet is not a safe space for abuse. Actions proposed in the plan include criminalising AI models that have been optimised to create child sexual abuse material (CSAM), updating existing law that criminalises ‘paedophile’ manuals to cover artificially-generated CSAM and ensuring that there are no safe spaces for offenders to network and facilitate abuse.
However, we challenge the Government to go further to do more to counter the narrative online that AI-generated child sexual abuse does not cause harm to children. Our research shows there are serious knowledge gaps amongst the public regarding AI child sexual abuse material and the harm it causes to children – there is a common and dangerous misconception that it is not harmful.
We need to be clear - not only does this material normalise the sexualisation of children, but AI is being used to manipulate images of real children, some of whom have previously been victims of sexual abuse. AI child sexual abuse material, however it is created, is causing real harm to children.
Better support for victims and survivors is crucial
Where sexual harm has occurred, it is crucial that there is a range of different supports available for victims and survivors when they need them. We are pleased to see the government commit to improving the provision of therapeutic support beyond simply accessing the NHS mental health services, and a move towards providing children and adult survivors with the specialised wraparound support they need to thrive.
With all this said, we find it disappointing that many of the actions in the plan are caveated on future funding decisions. We send a clear message to the government – by investing in an evidence-based approach to preventing child sexual abuse, there is hope, and we can prevent abuse before it happens – we need to make these plans a reality. In addition to the moral imperative to invest in prevention to stop abuse, it is also a cost-effective approach.
In summary, these ambitious plans are a welcome development — but, as always, the details are what really matter. The key will be committing these ambitious plans to action.
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