Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of child sexual abuse.
Following the publication of the government’s update on tackling child sex abuse, we thank the Home Office for its proposal on implementing the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) recommendations.
We welcome the Government’s intention to introduce a mandatory reporting duty in the Crime and Policing Bill. However, Thirtyone:eight believe the current provisions on when to report child sexual abuse do not go far enough, continuing to leave children at risk of abuse. We would call for the Crime and Policing Bill to include ‘concerns or suspicions’ as a trigger for those in regulated activity to report child sexual abuse to increase the effectiveness of the Bill to protect those at risk.
We believe that the current sanctions for failing to report child sexual abuse do not go far enough and lack the consequences required to keep children safe from sexual abuse. We strongly urge the government to define the failure to report child sexual abuse as a crime and attach criminal sanctions to this crime. This would bring the provision in line with the criminal offense of interfering with a report being made under the duty, which we welcome and support.
We also encourage the Home Office to review the definition of regulated activity. Although we welcome the removal of the supervision exemption, the current definition does not go far enough in including important roles in faith communities, leaving many vulnerable people unprotected. Closing this loophole would create clarity on eligibility and duty to refer to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS), increase the effectiveness of mandatory reporting and the positions of trust legislation, protecting more lives from harm.
We are grateful that Jess Phillips (Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls) referenced faith communities requiring support and guidance in the roll-out of the IICSA recommendations. We urge the Government to consult and engage with faith communities to further understand these contexts and to ensure that faith communities are equipped to understand how the proposed legislation will apply to them and increase their relevant responsibilities.
Thirtyone:eight provide the Secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Safeguarding in Faith Communities and have produced a briefing paper on the key considerations for the implementation of the IICSA recommendations. This has been sent to the Home Office and key departments.
Read the briefing paper.