Child Abuse

Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Thursday 17th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

It is for the police to deal with the apprehension of offenders and to act on information that they have available. It is not the purpose of the inquiry to deal with individual cases. It will be important to make sure that the inquiry separates the police operations from its own investigations and does not, in the process of making its findings known, jeopardise police officers or the proper administration of justice.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome all the Government are doing to bring the perpetrators of child abuse to justice, but will they do more to prevent it happening in the first place? Hundreds of thousands of people go online and access child pornography on the internet. Some people seem to take the view that, if that is all they do, it does not matter too much. But, of course, every such image of a child on the internet is a child who has been abused, and the people accessing those images are complicit in that crime. There is some overlap between those who access child pornography on the internet and those who go out to contact children and abuse them physically. There is a great deal of controversy over how big that overlap is. Will the Government do more research to look into the overlap between accessing child pornography on the internet and physically abusing children? Will they do more to support those charities that do wonderful work with people who accept their inappropriate urges and want not to offend physically? Organisations such as the Lucy Faithfull Foundation struggle for resources to do this very important work to prevent children being abused in the first place.

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I could not agree more with the premise of my noble friend’s questions; it is important to support charities. I also agree that viewing images of children online is not a harmless pursuit. It is damaging to those who have been involved in sexual abuse to provide those images, but it also leads individuals on to sexual abuse. That is why we are right to take this view. We have open minds about how the Government should deal with this over time, but I agree with my noble friend that the numbers coming forward suggest that this problem has been made worse by people’s ability to view these images online.

Serious Crime Bill [HL]

Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Tuesday 15th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

My Lords, this has been a very high-value debate whose contributions inform the Government. I will try to make sure that all colleagues in government with an interest in this matter are sent a copy of our debate.

I cannot give the noble Lord, Lord Rosser, any details of the timescale. If, in the course of time, I have more information, I will try to tell him in good time, but at the moment I cannot. In a way, this debate needs to be taken in conjunction with the one we had on my noble friend Lady Brinton’s debate; it covers very similar territory but it goes just that little bit further. I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Walmsley for tabling this amendment to enable us to look at this particular aspect.

There is a significant difference between the amendments. Amendment 40BZEA would place a duty on those working in regulated sectors who are in a position of trust in relation to children or vulnerable people to report suspicions of abuse to the appropriate local authority within 10 days. Breach of that duty would be a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison. This would mean essentially that anyone who works with children or vulnerable adults would commit a criminal offence if they did not report suspected abuse of any kind.

I hope that I can provide some reassurance to my noble friend Lady Walmsley and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham about the current process of referrals to social services. The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, referred to this. It is important to recognise that existing statutory guidance is already crystal clear that professionals should refer immediately to social care when they are concerned about a child or vulnerable adult. Many thousands of referrals are made to children’s social care each year. In the year ending March 2013, there were 593,500 referrals—that is nearly 600,000. I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Walmsley for offering to provide me with figures that she has available, but I think that we need to bear that figure in mind and appreciate the scale of the situation that we are seeking to engage in.

The most important thing is that people understand how to spot abuse and neglect and the impact that it has on children and vulnerable adults. While we are continuing to review the evidence for the specific case of reporting in regulated settings, we are also continuing to take action to improve the knowledge and skills of professionals working with children and other vulnerable people.

As I indicated in my response to the previous group of amendments, the Government fully understand the public’s anxiety about the potential underreporting of abuse, particularly sexual abuse. I can wholeheartedly support my noble friend’s objective with this amendment; we all want to see improved safeguarding for all children and vulnerable adults. As I have said, we are actively considering the case for a mandatory reporting duty, but the issues are complex, as the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth of Breckland, pointed out. As the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said, we need to consider what form such a duty might take, to whom it would apply and in what circumstances, and what the sanction for failure to comply should be. This amendment offers one approach, but we have just debated an alternative, more focused proposal, and the NSPCC has suggested a third model. Other organisations working to safeguard children and vulnerable adults will have ideas of their own as to how a mandatory reporting regime should be structured, as will other noble Lords. I have sought to encourage noble Lords to make sure that those conducting such investigations are aware of their views.

I can only again seek to reassure my noble friend and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Durham that we are actively examining the options and treating the matter with the urgency that it deserves. While I cannot undertake to bring forward government amendments on this issue on Report, I certainly expect that, by then, I will have more to say on where we have reached in our consideration of this important matter. Having put the issue firmly on the table as my noble friend has done, I hope that she will now be content to withdraw her amendment.

[Baroness Walmsley]

My Lords, I thank all those who have taken part in this debate. I thank the Minister for his reply and the right reverend Prelate for his support.

There has been some discussion about terminology. Noble Lords might have detected that I did not use the phrase “mandatory reporting” in my introduction because I know that it causes some people some difficulty. I have also avoided using the word “professionals” in my amendment. We may not want to call a school secretary or a dinner lady a professional, yet they would need to have a CRB check to work in a school and they are specified in Schedule 4 to the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which is in my amendment. When my noble friend asks to whom the duty should apply, my reply is that it is those people. So it is already in law.

I agree that the issues are complex and that we should approach the whole thing with a great deal of caution. I agree that there are different systems across the world and we need to find out which system suits this country best. I also agree that we need a culture change; I am pretty sure that I said so. We need training not just for the professionals but for the children so that they understand how to protect themselves. We probably need more resources as well because, as I said, there is an awful lot of undetected child abuse out there which has never been treated, and it never goes away. There is no such thing as historic child abuse; it is always current in the lives of the victims, who never lose it.

With that, I have done my very best to persuade all noble Lords. I will have to leave it at that for the moment, but I suspect that I may come back to it at the next stage of the Bill. We shall see. I shall watch with great interest what happens with the terms of reference of the new inquiry committee, the personnel and how they go about their job. In the mean time, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.

Child Abuse

Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Monday 7th July 2014 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

We know that these are devolved matters in some areas. As the former leader of the Scottish Parliament, the noble Lord will know that Scotland is affected as much of the United Kingdom has been by these matters. We have inquiries going on in Northern Ireland and north Wales. In so far as it is not a devolved matter, the inquiry will indeed embrace the entire United Kingdom, but it is about England initially. However, I am sure that we can all learn from each other’s experiences. If there is a willingness to accept, across the United Kingdom, that information should be exchanged between the Governments and Assemblies in other parts of the United Kingdom and the inquiry, I am sure that that will be made clear.

I say to the noble Baroness, Lady Smith, that I have received a comment about gagging and whether people will be prevented because they have signed a commitment not to talk about matters. I make it clear that this is to be a wide-ranging review. It will have access to all papers and reports, as I have said, and, subject to the constraints of criminal investigations, it will be free to call witnesses. We have made it clear that if the inquiry panel deems it necessary, the Government are prepared to convert it into a free inquiry. It will have considerable powers.

[Baroness Walmsley (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome the Statement, particularly the independent inquiry. Indeed, I added my voice to those who were calling for such an inquiry during my debate in your Lordships’ House on 26 June.

There is no reason why such an inquiry should in any way interfere with the work of the police as long as the panel has available to it people from the police and the prosecuting authorities who know what is going on and which inquiries are actually under way. I ask my noble friend whether such people with up-to-date knowledge of what is being looked into and may be looked into in the future will be attached to the panel so that it can avoid straying into areas that might prevent perpetrators being prosecuted in the future. That is very important.

I ask my friend whether the inquiry will focus more on learning lessons than pointing fingers. It is the role of the police and the prosecuting authorities to point fingers and to bring perpetrators to justice, but they are not in the position, as the panel will be, to learn overall lessons. I echo what the noble Baroness, Lady Smith of Basildon, said about victims. They need to be at the heart of this. We need to be sure that they can be heard and will have support in order to be heard.

Finally, what will be the scope of the recommendations that the panel will be able to make? Clearly, it will be making recommendations on changes of practice. Will it also be able to make recommendations on changes in legislation? What will be the procedure for the Government to respond to those recommendations in the fullness of time?

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

I will start on that final point. There will be no limit on what the inquiry will be able to tell us all about what it finds. That is the whole point of it. My noble friend assumed too much when she said that it would not be pointing fingers. I think it will point fingers, and it should do so if it feels that areas of government have failed, either now or in the past. The panel needs to be able to tell us that, and it is right and proper that it should do so.

Of course it is important that people who have been subjected to child abuse feel that this inquiry is about what has happened to them. However, the principal thing that I would urge them to do is to go and tell the police what has happened to them. It is for the police to bring justice to these incidents. We are trying here to learn the mechanisms whereby we can have that framework and whether that is possible or easy to do.

My noble friend asked about the constitution of the panel. I cannot give information on that. No doubt the panel will be constructed to provide the right sort of expertise. We do not want the panel to be so inhibited by the situation regarding criminal prosecutions that it fails to do its work properly. It will have a proper legal basis for making inquiries so that prosecutions, if necessary, can follow from what it discovers.

Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 (Disclosure and Barring Service Transfer of Functions) Order 2012

Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Monday 26th November 2012 Grand Committee

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Taylor of Holbeach)]

My Lords, I am sure that the Grand Committee will be aware that the Government have introduced effective measures to scale back the former vetting and barring scheme and to return to a more common-sense approach to handling criminal record checks through the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Measures in the Act received widespread support.

Our first priority remains to safeguard children and other vulnerable groups from those who may seek to cause them harm. The changes recognise that we need to do that in a way which does not discourage volunteers from working in these areas and without imposing unnecessary bureaucracy. As part of the process of change, and to help provide a more effective service to the public, we are combining the work previously carried out by the Criminal Records Bureau and the Independent Safeguarding Authority. The draft order before the Committee brings about the transfer of functions to a new single body, known as the Disclosure and Barring Service, in order to achieve this.

The necessary provisions of the 2012 Act to establish the DBS as a legal entity were commenced on 15 October. It is a new non-departmental public body, independent of government but overseen by the Home Office as its sponsor department. The DBS is expected to start its operations on 1 December, subject to the approval of this order. The order transfers to the DBS all the previous functions of the Criminal Records Bureau under Part 5 of the Police Act 1997. These are powers for the Secretary of State to consider applications for, and to issue, criminal records certificates—powers currently exercised on behalf of the Home Secretary by the CRB. Some functions under the 1997 Act are retained by the Home Secretary—setting fees for applications, for example, or issuing certain guidance.

The order also transfers all functions of the ISA under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 to the new DBS. The ISA considers whether individuals should be barred from work with children or other vulnerable groups, taking account of criminal records and other relevant information, such as that provided by employers. It maintains the barred lists and has powers to review barring decisions and to remove barred persons from the lists. All these functions will be taken over by the DBS, which will take barring decisions independent of Ministers. It also provides for the dissolution of the ISA once the functions have been transferred. Similar changes are made to enable the DBS to be the barring authority for Northern Ireland.

By means of a separate order, subject to negative resolution, certain core functions are retained for the DBS. The ISA core functions are set out in the 2012 Act and are intended to ensure the independence of decision-making by the new DBS for all barring decisions. The CRB core functions are prescribed and mainly concern powers to verify identity of applicants, including by checking other publicly held records, and to receive and process police criminal records and local information.

The creation of the DBS will involve the transfer of staff from CRB and ISA to the DBS through a statutory staff transfer scheme made under the 2012 Act. Staff will be notified in writing that they will transfer to the DBS in line with the requirements of the Cabinet Office statement of practice on staff transfers in the public sector. Staff and unions have been consulted about the transfer and have received clarification about their terms and conditions, continuity of service, future staff numbers and the likely impact on jobs.

The purpose of the order is to bring together the work of the Criminal Records Bureau and the Independent Safeguarding Authority into a single body. I am very pleased to have been able to visit both organisations, the CRB in Liverpool and the ISA in Darlington, and to see at first hand the important work they undertake. I thank the staff of those organisations for all the hard work that they have put into planning for a successful merger to the new DBS. Particular thanks are due to Sir Roger Singleton, Adrian McAllister and Anne Hunter of the ISA, who have provided effective leadership of that organisation and who will now be stepping down from their posts. Congratulations are due to Adrienne Kelbie and Bill Griffiths, the new chief executive and chair of the DBS.

The policy underlying the order was fully debated during the passage of the 2012 Act. It reduces bureaucratic requirements for a central registration scheme, amends the scope for regulated activity to which barring applies, and strengthens the criteria for disclosure on local police information. These changes will make the system fairer and more proportionate but they will also make sure that criminal record checks remain available to those who need them. The changes are part of a rebalancing of the responsibilities for safeguarding children and other vulnerable groups between the state, employers and other organisations. The order before the Grand Committee brings about the key changes which will enable the DBS to start its important work in December. I commend the order to the Committee.

[Baroness Walmsley]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend the Minister for explaining this statutory instrument. I have no reason to object to the streamlining of these organisations. It makes sense to bring together the collection and dissemination of criminal records information and barring decisions and to maintain those lists. However, I turned to the Explanatory Memorandum to have a look at what it says about consultation and I noted that it says that the changes are consequential on the Government’s remodelling review, on which there was consultation. Many of us who were part of that consultation were most grateful to my noble friend the Minister’s predecessor, the noble Lord, Lord Henley, at the Home Office, who was kind enough to spend quite a lot of his time consulting us. The problems identified by those who were concerned about the original legislation have been recently compounded. Employers in the further education colleges sector and the amateur sports organisations sector were particularly concerned about the reduction in the number of people who were going to be subjected to revelations about their background.

Perhaps I could summarise my remarks by asking my noble friend the Minister to tell the Committee how he feels that these new arrangements will help to prevent recent situations such as the Jimmy Savile situation and the terrible stories that came out of the Bryn Estyn school in North Wales some years ago. Those situations related to people who had never committed a crime and therefore they did not have a criminal record. So I would like to know how this streamlined arrangement will help to protect children in those circumstances.

North Wales Abuse Allegations

Debate between Baroness Walmsley and Lord Taylor of Holbeach

Tuesday 6th November 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

The whole House will be awaiting the results of the inquiry from Sue Berelowitz which is likely to come out later this month. However the noble Earl is absolutely right: we have perhaps been complacent in the past. We can no longer be complacent on this issue. I hope that the Government are making it clear that they do not intend to be complacent and will pursue all these matters so that we have a better environment for child protection in this country.

[Baroness Walmsley]

My Lords, following on from what the noble Earl has just asked, will the reports that the Minister has just announced be free to make recommendations to public services and organisations? It seems likely that recommendations will be made to social services, the criminal justice system and the police. Health services, such as STD clinics where young girls go over and over again, are very often in a position to pick up warning signs, which they do not always pass on. This has recently come out in the report referred to by the Children’s Commissioner. Similarly, in the education service, schools can help to prepare children to understand the dangers and to protect themselves.

[Lord Taylor of Holbeach]

My noble friend is absolutely right. A multi-agency approach is the way in which this issue needs to be addressed across government. She quite rightly points to the fact that different aspects of government are able to assist in this process. It is certainly the Government’s objective to have a cross-departmental, cross-agency approach in order to make sure that the information that we have gained through these unfortunate events, and the public attention which has been drawn to the exposure of the Jimmy Savile case, can be properly addressed so that we can create a better place for young people in this country.