Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the proposed duty to report child abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill would apply to disclosures made in religious confessionals.

Ministers have met with a number of interested Parliamentarians to discuss clauses 45-54 of the Crime and Policing Bill, including a member of the Lords Spiritual. We will continue to engage with faith groups that and other organisations to help them manage the implementation of the new duty.

The duty will apply to individuals undertaking relevant activity with children, including in religious and faith-based settings. There are no exceptions made within the law on the basis of how and where disclosures are received.