Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport

Rosena Allin-Khan Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Westminster Hall

[Dr Rosena Allin-Khan (Tooting) (Lab)]

Thank you for calling me to speak, Sir Roger; it is an absolute pleasure to serve under your chairmanship.

First, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Enfield, Southgate (Bambos Charalambous) for calling this debate. I know that this issue is so important to him, and he has been tireless in working to secure this debate. I was extremely sorry to hear the story of his constituent, Mr Ackley, who spoke so bravely about the sexual abuse that he suffered. That cannot have been easy, but Mr Ackley has provided a voice for those who do not have one.

Sport should be enjoyed and loved by all. It has a unique propensity to build communities and friendships, to inspire and motivate, and to tackle much wider issues, such as obesity and mental health. Also, as a parent of two young girls, I know how much sport can bring to children’s lives.

I am passionate about sport because I truly believe it has the power to impact positively on all of our lives, and at every opportunity we should encourage our children to be healthy and happy. That is why, most importantly, sport must be a safe space for all our children, free from predators and those who wish to cause harm.

Historical child abuse is one of the great issues of our time. For decades, it has loitered on the doorsteps of institutions. That time must end now. The scale of the revelations that we have heard about in just the past 10 years has shocked the UK to its core, and it is our collective responsibility across Government, across party lines and across governing bodies to tackle the issue. We must ensure that victims are supported and perpetrators punished, and we must do everything in our power to prevent it from ever happening again.

This issue is by no means confined to football or sport. We owe a great deal to the victims who have spoken out and I pay particular tribute to Andy Woodward, who waived his right to anonymity and told The Guardian that he had been sexually abused as a young player. His truly shocking and harrowing account paved the way for many other victims to come forward. Woodward’s actions sparked an inquiry that would change the face of football, and I pay tribute to the bravery of all those victims who have come forward since then to share their stories, not least Mr Ackley himself.

Within a few days of the revelations emerging, I tabled an urgent question for the Government and wrote to all sports governing bodies requesting a full review of their current safeguarding strategies, to make sure that there are suitable procedures in place to properly investigate historical claims, and that there is capacity to root out offenders.

Given that we had discussed the issue, I am pleased that the Government have included sports coaches in the law relating to the position of trust. What progress has been made on implementing that?

I am sure that many Members present will join me in welcoming the Scottish Government’s recent decision to consult on introducing mandatory disclosure checks on all sports coaches in Scotland. However, it is important that we are not simply reactionary. We must continue to work with Sport England, the NSPCC, the police, the CPSU and national governing bodies, to ensure that we set universal standards and instil best practice.

My shadow Front-Bench colleagues and I have pushed for the introduction of mandatory reporting, to place a legal duty on people working with children to report suspected abuse, suspicions and known abuse to children’s social services. Our view has not changed and nor will it. Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect must be introduced, because it is more than just a tick-box exercise. It is a chance to save lives and we owe it to our children and to all those brave people who have stood up and called out their experiences. Without mandatory reporting, we will never break the culture and we will never instigate meaningful change; without it, we will allow the perpetrators to continue unchallenged, as many of them have been for so long.

Everyone here today wants to see an end to this scandal and we are all working to achieve the same goal. Now is the time to act, ensuring that good practice is shared and, where necessary, new practices are put in place, so that abuse does not take place in sport at any level.