Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to tackle image-based sexual abuse among teenagers.

The Government is committed to intervening as early as possible to prevent vulnerable children and young people from experiencing all forms of child sexual exploitation and abuse. This includes education and awareness raising initiatives and equipping frontline professionals and safeguarding partners with the tools and training to identify child sexual abuse and provide support to children and young people.

We are working to implement the groundbreaking Online Safety Act, which places clear legal duties on tech companies to identify, report and remove child sexual abuse material and proactively combat the threat on their platforms. Alongside this, it is crucial that all sectors, including tech, step up their efforts in going further and faster in keeping children safe online.

We are also working to tackle the rise in harmful sexual behaviour among children and young people. This includes supporting the Shore website, run by the Lucy Faithful Foundation, which provides resources and a helpline that provides confidential help, support and information to young people concerned about their own or someone else’s sexual thoughts and behaviour to prevent abuse and victimisation Children. Young people are also able to access the Report Remove tool, run by the IWF and NSPCC, that enables children whose images have been shared online to remove those images from public platforms.

We are committed to using all available levers to us and call on all sectors to work to keep children safe online and across our communities in the UK and around the world.