WARRINGTON North MP Charlotte Nichols has called for the Government to implement the full IICSA report recommendations as part of a new national independent enquiry into child sexual exploitation.
This week during Parliament’s statement-debate on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Charlotte Nichols MP raised the findings of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) report and asked Jess Phillips MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls to confirm that the Government will be implementing all of the recommendations of IICSA – including the recommendations on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
Ms Nichols expressed in Parliament: “The last Government failed to implement a single recommendation from the IICSA report, and Professor Alexis Jay herself spoke of the huge anger and disappointment at their response. Baroness Casey’s work rightly focuses on the future and I am grateful for today’s statement, but can the Minister please reassure me that the extraordinary work of Professor Jay and all the brave victims and survivors who contributed to her inquiry will not be forgotten and that the Government will implement the IICSA recommendations in full, including its recommendations on the criminal injuries compensation scheme? Currently, that scheme excludes far too many victims of group-based child sexual exploitation and leaves them without adequate support to rebuild their lives”.
The IICSA report was published in October 2022 and investigates the extent to which state and non-state institutions failed to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation in England and Wales. It sets out its main findings and makes 20 recommendations for reform to strengthen safeguards for children at risk of abuse.
Some of the main recommendations of the report include:
1. Implementation of a new statutory duty for individuals in key roles with responsibility for children to report sexual abuse when made aware of it.
2. Creation of Child Protection Authorities to enhance child protection efforts across institutions.
3. Pre-screening for illegal images of children by internet providers to prevent abuse images from being uploaded.
4. Age verification for online services and social media platforms to better protect children.
5. Legislation to make grooming an aggravating factor in the sentencing of child sexual offences.
Following her appearance in Parliament, Charlotte also added: “In yesterday’s statement debate on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse, I asked the Minister to confirm that the Government will be implementing all of the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) – including the recommendations on the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme.
“Too many victims are unable to apply because of rules around unspent convictions including where these convictions are for prostitution as a direct result of their exploitation, arbitrary time limits, or are deterred from applying because the perpetrators’ defence can claim a financial motive for coming forward – meaning they have to choose between justice and compensation, and too often ending up with neither.
“While the new statutory national inquiry rightly looks to the future, we do not need to wait for its findings to bring forward existing recommendations from previous work in this space and I will continue to push the Government for this”.
For more detailed information, you can refer to the official IICSA website at https://www.iicsa.org.uk/final-report.html
