Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the proposed mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse in the Crime and Policing Bill on dissuading offenders unknown to the police from coming forward for psychiatric treatment.

The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse considered such issues very carefully in the course of compiling its report to Government, and concluded that a mandatory reporting law was necessary to improve the protection of children and young people.

The Crime and Policing Bill will establish a clear, consistent requirement that allegations of child sexual abuse are shared promptly with appropriate safeguarding agencies, who are best placed to consider it further and take appropriate action to safeguard and support the child involved where necessary.

The Government already sets clear expectations through statutory and non-statutory guidance that those engaging with children should make an immediate referral to the relevant local authority children’s social care or the police if they are concerned about a child.

As they are now, impacted services will be responsible for explaining the detail and limitations of their confidentiality policies to their service users, including children and young people. Setting out a clear explanation of the need to pass certain concerns on to appropriate authorities should not undermine trusted relationships, or dissuade people from accessing the services they need.

We will be working with regulators and professional standards-setting bodies to ensure the new duty is clearly communicated ahead of implementation.