Missing Persons Guardianship

Debate between David Simpson and Bambos Charalambous

Tuesday 12th February 2019 Westminster Hall

[Bambos Charalambous]

I was not aware of that, and my hon. Friend makes a good point. I hope the Minister will hold such discussions with the Economic Secretary, if he has not already done so.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. I agree with everything he has said so far, and it is important that the 2017 Act is implemented by July. He mentioned the figure of 1,000 missing people, but perhaps the Minister could give some indication of what the number would be if we included all those who are in the pipeline for an application.

[Bambos Charalambous]

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. One thousand people go missing a year, but some people have been missing for many more years, and the figure will obviously be far higher than the 1,000 I mentioned.

Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport

Debate between David Simpson and Bambos Charalambous

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Westminster Hall

[Bambos Charalambous]

I think that my hon. Friend was referring to someone who has been convicted. We should congratulate the people who came forward and whose cases led to convictions. More cases may follow, and we do not want to go into that area, but my hon. Friend makes a good point about the bravery of the people who came forward.

A predatory individual could simply seek a supervised role with a sports club that would allow them access to children and young people. They could be groomed over a long period and, once the individual had built a trusting relationship with them, they could be exploited and abused. There is evidence to show that adults who have been barred from working with children will continue to try to get access. The NSPCC has discovered that, since the definition of regulated activity was changed in 2012, more than 1,100 people who have been barred from working with children because they pose a threat have been caught applying to work in regulated activity by the DBS. I am not aware of any statistics in relation to unregulated activity.

Sports clubs can find it complex to identify which role should be classified as regulated activity and which should not, and could be at risk of committing an offence of over-checking if they decide to carry out a DBS check with barred list information on an individual in a role that does not require it. It is clear to me that that places sports clubs in a difficult position and that the definition of regulated activity needs to be amended and widened.

Another area that needs re-examining is “Positions of trust”, as defined by sections 21 and 22 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. As the law stands, children are protected from being groomed into sexual relationships by trusted adults with power and influence over them. That applies to teachers, social workers and doctors, but not to sports coaches or youth leaders. That creates the absurd situation that if a physical education teacher teaching football at school engaged in sexual activity with a 16-year-old child, that would be an offence, but if the same individual in a sports coaching role did the same thing outside school, that would not be. There should be no distinction between the two, and the law needs to be changed accordingly.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on obtaining the debate. We can put safeguards in place for the future, but what more can be done to help those victims who have been traumatised—those people who are living with the trauma day in, day out?

[Bambos Charalambous]

The hon. Gentleman poses an excellent question. There needs to be much more support for those people in relation to their mental health. Many people are suffering trauma as a result of past events. We need to ensure that there is a proper support network for them, so that they get the counselling, advice and therapy that they need in order to come to terms with the appalling effects of historical sexual abuse.

To return to the point about positions of trust, many national governing bodies for sports want to see the change to which I referred, and have told the NSPCC that more than 50% of all safeguarding cases arise from inappropriate relationships with sports coaches. I understand that last year the Minister announced that a ministerial commitment had been secured to extend the “position of trust” provision to sports coaches. I invite her to update us on the progress of that commitment.

Closer working with the police will be necessary. I have been made aware of instances in which the police have suggested that an individual may pose a risk to children at a sports club, and that has led to the individual’s suspension, only for the police to take no further action because the suspension means that there is no longer a risk. That sort of practice exposes clubs to challenges to their decisions to suspend and may have an adverse effect on an innocent individual.

Many victims of abuse will need advice and support when reporting it and also in the aftermath, when they may suffer from depression, have suicidal thoughts, be at risk of self-harm and suffer with their mental health generally. I know that last year the Government published a Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health, but will the Minister give serious consideration to out-of-hours provision of support for victims?

At the start of the debate, I touched on how Barry Bennell was able to get away with his sexual abuse of boys, despite it being an open secret in Manchester and other places. It is the responsibility of us all to call out abuse when we see it. I would like to think that, given the recent sex abuse scandals, none of us would tolerate knowing about any such abuse and not reporting it.

Playing sport should be fun, safe, enjoyable and rewarding. The purpose of this debate is to ensure that it remains so for children and young people. For the sake of people such as Ian Ackley and the other brave victims who spoke out about their abuse, and those who have not done so or were not able to do so, who have been robbed of their youth by the actions of evil men, I hope that by speaking up and taking action now, we will be preventing future abuse from happening in sport.

I appreciate that some of the matters that I have mentioned may fall outside the Minister’s remit, but I want to ensure that these issues have been properly aired and I hope that she will be able to use this debate to influence her ministerial colleagues to bring about the changes that will make children and young people in sport safer.

Autism Diagnosis

Debate between David Simpson and Bambos Charalambous

Wednesday 13th September 2017 Westminster Hall

[Bambos Charalambous]

My hon. Friend makes a valid point: consistency is required across the range.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

The hon. Gentleman talked about diagnosis times. In Northern Ireland, we fall foul of the 13-week standard, with some times peaking at 22 months. We have a vast shortage of psychologists. Does he agree that a massive recruitment drive is needed to reduce those times and achieve the standard?

[Bambos Charalambous]

The hon. Gentleman makes a very good point; I will refer to the requirement of additional resources later.

Autism usually first manifests itself in young children: four to five years old is the average age at which it is diagnosed, with girls being diagnosed later and less frequently than boys. Some people are not diagnosed until they are adults, after which they are then able to make better sense of things. Some of the early signs of autism include underdeveloped communication and attention skills, such as not establishing eye contact or responding to one’s name. It is widely acknowledged that autism can be reliably diagnosed at age two, and that early diagnosis is absolutely critical to allow parents and carers to receive the support they need so that they can give their child the best start in life that they can. It is safe to say that everyone supporting a child with autism benefits from early diagnosis.

Before looking at the NICE guidelines, I will reference the primary piece of legislation that covers autism: the Autism Act 2009, introduced as a private Member’s Bill by the right hon. Member for Chesham and Amersham (Mrs Gillan). It was adopted by the Labour Government of the day and became law. Section 1 of the Act states that the Secretary of State must publish an autism strategy by April 2010, and must keep that strategy under review. In March 2010, an autism strategy was drawn up, and it covered: increasing awareness; developing a consistent pathway for diagnosis; improving access to services; helping adults with autism into work; and enabling local partners to plan and develop local services. Section 2 deals with guidance about implementing the autism strategy, with subsection (5) stating that that must include guidance about diagnosing autism, identifying adults with autism and assessing their needs.

Following the granting of Royal Assent to the Autism Act and the drawing up of the autism strategy, NICE acknowledged the need for early diagnosis. In paragraph 1.5.1 of its “Autism spectrum disorder in under 19s: recognition, referral and diagnosis” guidance, under the heading “Autism diagnostic assessment for children and young people”, it states that autism diagnostic assessment should start

“within 3 months of the referral to the autism team.”