Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the UK is not represented on the Committee of Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.

The UK signed the Council of Europe's Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in 2008.

The UK is not currently represented on the Committee as we are yet to ratify the Convention. Home Office officials are working with the devolved administrations, overseas territories and Crown dependencies, and leading the work to examine what needs to be done under domestic legislation and in terms of practical arrangements before the whole of the UK can be assessed to be fully compliant and in a position to ratify.

The Government takes its international commitments very seriously and will only commit to formal ratification when it is absolutely satisfied that the whole of the UK complies with all articles.