NSPCC: Thousands of child abuse crimes every month Online Safety Bill is delayed

The charity said its analysis of Home Office crime data found a more than tenfold increase in online child sexual abuse offences recorded by police in England and Wales over the past decade.

According to that data, 42,503 obscene publication (child abuse image) and sexual grooming crimes were logged over the last year, up from 3,706 a decade ago.

The NSPCC said it has now written to both Conservative leadership candidates to urge them to commit to passing the online safety regulation in full and without delay when they become prime minister.

The charity said delaying the Bill further or “watering down” the proposals would “represent the reversal of an important manifesto commitment that commands strong levels of public support”.

The Online Safety Bill had been due to continue its passage through Parliament last week, but this was postponed until the autumn when either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak take office.

The online safety laws would compel social media and other platforms to protect their users from harmful content, placing a duty of care on them, with large fines and access to their sites being blocked should they breach the new rules.

But the NSPCC said the delay would leave more children at risk of being groomed, and said the sheer scale of the problem must serve as a wake-up call to the next prime minister.

“With every second the clock ticks by on the Online Safety Bill an ever-growing number of children and families face the unimaginable trauma of preventable child abuse,” NSPCC chief executive Sir Peter Wanless said.

“The need for legislation to protect children is clear, commands overwhelming support from MPs and the public and builds on the UK’s global leadership position in tackling harm online.

“Robust regulation can be delivered while protecting freedom of speech and privacy.

“There can be no more important mission for Government than to keep children safe from abuse and the next prime minister must keep the promise made to families in the election manifesto and deliver the Online Safety Bill as a national priority.”

In Scotland, the charity warns that more than 100 online sex crimes will be committed against children in Scotland every month the Online Safety Bill is delayed.

Analysis of Police Scotland crime data found that online child sexual abuse offences had more than doubled over the past decade.

The NSPCC said 1,298 indecent image offences and crimes of communicating indecently with a child were logged in the year to March, up from 543 offences ten years ago.

The NSPCC was also part a coalition of violence against women and girls organisations and technology experts that warned by delaying the Bill there was a “real danger it could be weakened or scrapped altogether”.

In a statement earlier this month, the group – which also included the End Violence Against Women Coalition, Refuge, Carnegie UK, Glitch, 5Rights, Suzy Lamplugh Trust and Professor Clare McGlynn – said it was “incredibly disappointing” that the Bill has been paused, adding: “The Bill is a pivotal piece of legislation that has the potential to provide significant and much needed protections for women and girls online.

“As a coalition, we have been working tirelessly to urge the Government to include a violence against women and girls code of practice in this Bill, which would make sure social media companies are better regulated, to prevent abuse perpetrated online and provide more robust responses to it. For the one in three women who have experienced online abuse, this change has the power to be transformative.

“A pause like this only serves to put the Bill’s future at risk and its progress should not be halted. By pausing this legislation now, there is the real danger that it could be weakened or scrapped altogether.

“The Government should now allow the Bill to conclude its progress through the Commons as soon as possible after recess so that it can move to the House of Lords without further delay, demonstrating that it remains a legislative priority.

“The new Prime Minister must commit to making women and girls’ safety online an urgent priority. Women cannot wait for the protections they need and deserve.”