The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “
Set up a public inquiry into the National problem of Paedophile grooming gangs”.
Government responded:
The Government takes child sexual abuse very seriously.
It has set up the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse which is
investigating the sexual exploitation of children by organised networks.
Child abuse is a despicable crime and the Government is
committed to keeping children and young people safe from all forms of
abuse. We are clear that if child abuse takes place it must be
thoroughly and properly investigated and those responsible brought to
justice – the race, age or gender of the perpetrators is irrelevant.
Child sexual exploitation is not exclusive to any single culture,
community, race or religion, and political or cultural sensitivities
must not get in the way of preventing and uncovering it.
The Government is clear there should be an honest open debate on child sexual exploitation, including racial motivation.
In February 2017, the Government published the ‘Tackling Child
Sexual Exploitation: Progress Report’ and announced a £40 million
package of measures to protect children and young people from sexual
abuse and exploitation and crack down on offenders. The ‘Progress
Report’ details delivery of the ambitious programme of work set out in
the 2015 ‘Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation’ report, and signals a step
change in our national response to sexual exploitation and violence
against children and young people. The full report can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-sexual-exploitation-progress-report.
Key Actions include:
• We have invested significantly in the law enforcement response to
child sexual abuse, giving it the status of a national threat to empower
police forces to apply their best skills and expertise to tackle the
problem, and providing millions of pounds of investment through the
Police Transformation Fund. This has led to a surge in police activity
with an increasing number of cases prosecuted in the courts and heavy
sentences handed down. We have invested in the frontline response to
child sexual abuse, for example recruiting an extra 100 specialist rape
and child sexual abuse prosecutors, establishing new investigative teams
in the National Crime Agency, and launching a new Child Sexual
Exploitation Response Unit to support social care, health and other
agencies. Our new £7.5 million Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual
Abuse is conducting research into types of offending, so that we can
understand and target them more effectively.
• We have funded a large scale communications campaign – Together, we
can tackle child abuse – to raise awareness and encourage the public to
report child abuse and neglect. Additionally, we have published a
revised definition of child sexual exploitation and targeted guidance
and training, which will ensure professionals have a shared
understanding of what child sexual exploitation is and how best to work
together to tackle it.
• We have improved scrutiny through joint inspections of health,
police and children’s social care focusing on the quality of frontline
practice in dealing with child sexual exploitation and missing children.
We have also launched a new national whistleblowing helpline, operated
by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
(NSPCC), for any employee who wants to raise a concern about how their
organisation is dealing with a concern about a child.
• In the last 3 years, we have provided £7 million in funding for non
statutory organisations which support the victims and survivors of
sexual abuse, including child sexual abuse, £0.6 million of this funding
was distributed directly by the Home Office to organisations working
with victims and survivors of sexual abuse over a large geographic area.
In March 2015, the Government established the Independent Inquiry
into Child Sexual Abuse to consider the extent to which institutions in
England and Wales have failed in their duty to protect children from
sexual abuse and exploitation. The Inquiry operates independently of
Government and, within its terms of reference, decides for itself what
it investigates and how. It has already announced an investigation into
institutional responses to the sexual exploitation of children by
organised networks. The Inquiry also runs a Truth Project to enable
victims and survivors of child sexual abuse to share their experiences
in a confidential setting and make recommendations for change. The
Inquiry’s work will help us all to understand what went wrong in the
past and learn lessons for the future. Further information on the
Inquiry, including how to take part in the Truth Project, can be found
at: http://www.iicsa.org.uk.
Sentencing is entirely a matter for our independent courts taking into account all the circumstances of each case.
Home Office
Click this link to view the response online:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/212467?reveal_response=yes
The Petitions Committee will take a look at this petition and its
response. They can press the government for action and gather evidence.
If this petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the Committee will consider
it for a debate.
The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in
government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the
Government. Find out more about the Committee:
https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee
Thanks,
The Petitions team
UK Government and Parliament
