Child exploitation criminalisation
Systemic failure to divert children and young people exploited by criminal gangs away from the criminal justice system.
19 items
1 source
3 inquiries
Source spread
Where this theme appears
Child exploitation criminalisation has been flagged across 1 independent accountability source:
19 inquiry recs
This theme has been identified in one data source. As more data is added, cross-references may emerge.
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Source-grouped records are useful for tracing where a concern came from. Large sections show the 50 strongest matches for that source; counts still show the full theme total.
Inquiry Recommendations (19)
26 — Alternatives to imprisonment for intra-familial abuse
Recommendation: While there should be no decriminalising of child sexual abuse, consideration should be given to alternatives to imprisonment in cases at least of intra-familial child sexual abuse (15.53-54).
Unknown
25 — Alternatives to prosecution
Recommendation: Consideration should be given to the adoption of alternatives to prosecution in appropriate cases (15.52).
Unknown
106 — Online age verification legislation
Recommendation: The government should introduce legislation requiring providers of online services and social media platforms to implement more stringent age verification techniques on all relevant devices.
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the Internet Report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published by the Home Office, 10 November 2020
Gov response: 11. The Government’s initial response to the White Paper, published in February 2020, outlines our proposals for tackling online harms and delivering a higher level of protection for children than for the typical adult user. …
Noted
No update 2+ yrs
105 — WeProtect international action on CSAM
Recommendation: The government should press the WeProtect Global Alliance to take more action internationally to ensure that those countries hosting indecent images of children implement legislation and procedures to prevent access to such imagery.
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the Internet Report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published by the Home Office, 10 November 2020
Gov response: 19. Supported by a range of philanthropic donors, the WPGA will continue to lead in the fight against online CSEA. The UK Government is a permanent member of its new management board, and as such …
Noted
No update 2+ yrs
104 — High risk countries list for travel orders
Recommendation: 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. …
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the Children Outside the UK phase 2 report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published by the Home Office, 21 January 2021
Gov response: 8. The Home Office fully accepts the Inquiry’s recommendation and will bring forward the necessary legislation to give effect to this recommendation when parliamentary time allows. To deliver on this recommendation, the Home Office has …
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
71 — Pre-screen material before upload
Recommendation: The government should require industry to pre-screen material before it is uploaded to the internet to prevent access to known indecent images of children.
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the Internet Report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published by the Home Office, 10 November 2020
Gov response: 9. In March 2020, the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand launched the Voluntary Principles to Counter Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. The principles were developed in consultation with six leading technology companies …
Noted
70 — Include clergy in position of trust definition
Recommendation: The government should amend Section 21 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 so as to include clergy within the definition of a position of trust. This would criminalise under s16-s20 sexual activity between clergy and a person aged 16-18, over …
Words of: Chris Philp MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice, letter to Professor Alexis Jay OBE, Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, 31 October 2019, published by the Ministry of Justice on 4 November 2019
Gov response: I should first like to assure the Inquiry that the criminal law already provides a number of protections to deal with non-consensual and unwanted sexual activity and abuse. These offences rightly carry robust sentences to …
Noted
No update 2+ yrs
56 — Update CSE guidance with network information
Recommendation: The Department for Education should review and publish an updated version of its guidance on child sexual exploitation. The update should specify that the core element of the definition of child sexual exploitation is that a child was controlled, coerced, …
Words of: HM Government, Child sexual exploitation by organised networks report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: government response, published by the Home Office, 27 July 2022
Gov response: 19. We recognise that local and national understanding of child sexual exploitation, including where perpetrated by organised networks, has progressed since the guide for practitioners was published in 2017. We therefore propose accepting these recommendations …
Accepted in part
No update 2+ yrs
40 — Publish interim online harms code of practice
Recommendation: The government should publish, without further delay, the interim code of practice in respect of child sexual abuse and exploitation as proposed by the Online Harms White Paper (published April 2019).
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the Internet Report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published by the Home Office, 10 November 2020
Gov response: 7. The Online Harms White Paper committed the Government to working with law enforcement agencies and other relevant bodies to produce interim codes of practice on terrorism and child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) due …
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
19 — Nottingham harmful sexual behaviour evaluation
Recommendation: Nottingham City Council and its child protection partners should commission an independent, external evaluation of their practice concerning harmful sexual behaviour, including responses, prevention, assessment, intervention and workforce development. An action plan should be set up to ensure that any …
No response yet
11 — Ban CSE-risk children from semi-independent placements
Recommendation: The Department for Education should ban the placement in semi-independent and independent settings of children aged 16 and 17 who have experienced, or are at heightened risk of experiencing, sexual exploitation. This should be implemented without delay.
Words of: HM Government, Child sexual exploitation by organised networks report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: government response, published by the Home Office, 27 July 2022
Gov response: 32. The government believes that every child in the care system should be placed in a setting that meets their needs and most importantly, keeps them safe. We must do all that we can to …
Not accepted
10 — Publish enhanced Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit
Recommendation: As referenced in its Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, the government should publish an enhanced version of its Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit as soon as possible. This Toolkit must: specify that the core element of the definition of child sexual …
Words of: HM Government, Child sexual exploitation by organised networks report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: government response, published by the Home Office, 27 July 2022
Gov response: 13. The government is committed to issuing a renewed version of the Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit in the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy. 14. The government accepts the Inquiry’s recommendation that an enhanced Toolkit should …
Accepted
9 — Mandatory aggravating factor for CSE offences
Recommendation: The government should amend the Sentencing Act 2020 to provide a mandatory aggravating factor in sentencing in the case of the commission of an offence under Part 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 relating to a child, where (1) …
Words of: HM Government, Child sexual exploitation by organised networks report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: government response, published by the Home Office, 27 July 2022
Gov response: 9. Crimes involving the sexual exploitation of children are totally abhorrent and offenders should face the full force of the law. The UK has some of the toughest powers in the world to deal with …
Noted
In progress
6 — Redraft canonical crimes as crimes against the child
Recommendation: The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales should request that the Holy See redraft the canonical crimes relating to child sexual abuse as crimes against the child.
No response yet
4 — National plan for overseas CSA by UK nationals
Recommendation: The Home Office should coordinate the development of a national plan of action addressing child sexual abuse and exploitation overseas by UK nationals and residents of England and Wales, involving input from all lead governmental agencies in the field.
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the Children Outside the UK phase 2 report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published by the Home Office, 21 January 2021
Gov response: 6. The Home Office will implement this recommendation as part of the UK Government’s soon-to-be published Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4. The Strategy will set out our national …
Accepted
No update 2+ yrs
1 — Collect disaggregated CSE data
Recommendation: Police forces and local authorities in England and Wales must collect data on all cases of known or suspected child sexual exploitation and child sexual exploitation by networks. These data should be separated from other data sets, including data on …
Words of: HM Government, Child sexual exploitation by organised networks report by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse: government response, published by the Home Office, 27 July 2022
Gov response: 27. The Home Office recognises the importance of robust data collection on suspects and offenders to inform problem profiling and activities to disrupt and investigate offenders. That is why we are working with police to …
Noted
No update 2+ yrs
37 — Rewrite section 37(2) removal power
Recommendation: Section 37(2) of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 should be re-written so as expressly to empower removal of a child where the child is likely to suffer imminent and significant harm of any kind and the removal is necessary …
Unknown
94 — CICA unspent convictions rule reform
Recommendation: The Chair and Panel recommend that the Ministry of Justice revises Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority rules, so that awards are not automatically rejected in circumstances where an applicant's criminal convictions are likely to be linked to their child sexual abuse. …
Words of: HM Government, Government response to the interim report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (Cm 9756), December 2018
Gov response: The cross-government Victims Strategy announced that the Government will consider how the CICS can better serve victims of violent crime including child sexual abuse and terrorism. We have published the terms of reference for the …
Accepted in part
R11 — Sexual offences intelligence retention
Recommendation: The Code of Practice should have particular regard to the factors to be considered when reviewing the retention or deletion of intelligence in cases of sexual offences.
Words of: Home Office, Bichard Inquiry Recommendations: Progress Report, 22 December 2004
Gov response: In particular, while there will be reference to the relevant guidance within the Code itself, it was felt that standards relating to IT systems, accountability, training, resources and audit required by Recommendations 10 and 11, …
Accepted