MISINFORMATION is masking the true scale of the child-abuse crisis within the UK, a campaign group led by Professor Alexis Jay has warned.
Professor Jay chaired the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) and presented its findings in October 2022 (News, 20 October 2022). She now chairs Act on IICSA, a campaign group which is asking on the Government to fulfil its guarantees on child protection. Two years after the publication of the ultimate IICSA report, none of its recommendations have been implemented.
In an announcement on Sunday, Act on IICSA says that recent press coverage on child sexual abuse “highlights a troubling trend of misinformation that undermines the true scale of the crisis and the pressing need for reform”. The Inquiry, it says, heard from greater than 7500 victims and survivors and “provided a transparent roadmap for motion. Yet, two years later, none of its recommendations have been fully implemented.”
Act on IICSA asks the Government for a timetable for this implementation, and urgently recommends the establishment of a Child Protection Authority (CPA) to take this forward. The group highlights IICSA’s central recommendations, including improved, standardised data collection and sharing; enhanced evaluation and identification of organised networks and abuse patterns; and sustainable funding to scale back pressure on frontline services supporting victims and survivors of abuse.
“Politicising the difficulty of sexual violence fails to acknowledge its lifelong impact and hinders the implementation of significant and urgent overhaul to our systems required,” the statement says.
“It is imperative to maintain the deal with radical reform, as evidenced by IICSA’s findings and smaller independent inquiries. The reality is stark: roughly 500,000 children are subjected to abuse every year within the UK. These children cannot afford further delays in meaningful motion.”
Professor Jay said: “Our mission shouldn’t be to call for brand spanking new inquiries, but to advocate for the total implementation of IICSA’s recommendations. A Child Protection Authority is critical to this process.”
In 2023, Professor Jay was commissioned by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to review the safeguarding structures of the Church of England (News, 20 July 2023). She really useful the creation of two recent independent bodies: the primary to perform safeguarding work, the second to offer “oversight and scrutiny” of the work of the primary. Both ought to be established as charities and funded by the Church (News, 21 February 2024).
These weren’t taken forward by the General Synod last February (News, 1 March 2024), which voted as a substitute to form a Response Group to the Jay report, and Sarah Wilkinson’s report on the demise of the Independent Safeguarding Board (News, 15 December 2024). A yr later, meeting in London next month, the Synod is to think about two options. Both represent a major change to the Church’s delivery of safeguarding, with implications for the roles of lots of of individuals (News, 20 December 2024).
