Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Sean Woodcock Excerpts

Thursday 16th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right. Some of this is about giving victims and survivors the confidence to come forward and report abuse, some of it is about getting agencies and organisations to take seriously the risk factors so that they identify potential crimes and pursue them, and some of it is about making sure that we have much stronger data requirements on police forces and local authorities so that we collect information and data. That was the first recommendation of the independent inquiry, and we are taking it forward. It has not been taken forward for far too long.

[Sean Woodcock (Banbury) (Lab)]

I am grateful to the Secretary of State for her statement. There are victims and survivors in many communities, including in my constituency, and I welcome the steps that she has announced. I commend the contributions from my hon. Friend the Member for Bolsover (Natalie Fleet) and the hon. Member for Eastbourne (Josh Babarinde).

Does the Home Secretary agree that the voices that matter when we discuss how we tackle these issues are not those of billionaires, politicians or talk show hosts seeking to weaponise the pain and suffering of victims and survivors? Above all, we should be listening to victims and survivors themselves.

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend is right. We need to make sure that victims and survivors are at the heart of this issue. Seven thousand victims and survivors gave evidence to the independent inquiry, which is a really hard thing to do. We owe it to them to make sure there is action as a result of their testimony, rather than just leaving the inquiry to sit on a shelf.