Government’s Response To Recommendations Made By IICSA

The Government has now published its official response to the Final Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual abuse. The Inquiry took seven years and considered thousands of pieces of evidence before making its recommendations.

The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman KC MP wants to assure victims and survivors that “This Government has listened”. She hopes that the Government’s response to the Inquiry will provide victims and survivors with “a moment of national acknowledgement’.

Ms Braverman states that the Government has accepted the need to act on all but one of the Inquiry’s recommendations.

In April 2023, the Home Secretary announced a Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce which will give practical, expert on the ground support for local forces investigating child sexual abuse with a particular focus on complex and organised child sexual exploitation including ‘grooming gangs’.

It is hoped that the Government is going to “put its money where its mouth is” by funding more police officers, more specialised training, and greater resources for such investigations to take place.

The Government’s response acknowledges that in the past, child sexual abuse and exploitation has been under-identified, under-reported, and under-recorded by police.  One of its core strategic objectives is to increase reporting and to see annual increases in the volume of police recorded crime for Child Sexual Abuse and Child Sexual Exploitation, together with an annual increase in the volume of charges for those offences. In this way, the Government believes that victims will have the confidence to report and more offenders will be brought to justice. It is an admirable goal.

It is also important that victims and survivors coming forward are provided with therapeutic input needed to support them through the process. The process is often re-traumatising and without the necessary services in place to mitigate that trauma, victims, and survivors can find themselves adrift in dangerous waters.

The Government promises to allocate up to £ 4.5 million over three years to seven organisations to support victims and survivors.

Redress Scheme

The Government is also committed to implementing a Redress Scheme in England to compensate victims and survivors of Child Sexual Abuse and Child Sexual Exploitation. It is currently launching an extensive engagement exercise to listen to the views and concerns of a wide range of stakeholders particularly victims and survivors before designing such a scheme.