Source: UK Safer Internet Centre published on this website Wednesday 13 March 2024 by Jill Powell

The UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) has published a draft of its ‘appropriate’ filtering and monitoring definitions for 2024 for public consultation. The definitions help both schools and providers understand what is considered ‘appropriate’ and comments are invited regarding this years proposed revisions.

Alongside the DfE’s introduction of statutory guidance and Prevent Duty obligations, UKSIC first published its filtering and monitoring definitions in 2016 to help both schools and providers understand what should be considered as ‘appropriate’.  

Included here are final proposed revisions alongside a version that tracks the changes compared to 2023 with a summary of the substantive changes, both for Filtering and Monitoring

Appropriate Filtering

Substantive changes 2024

Source: Dyfed-Powys Police published on this website Monday 11 March 2024 by Jill Powell

A former senior social worker who attempted to arrange to meet children for sex, and admitted enjoying ‘caressing’ a young girl has been jailed for five years.

When police arrested Richard Ford in September 2022, they discovered more than 900 indecent images of children on his computers. Further enquiries revealed he had also sexually assaulted a child on three occasions.

The 51-year-old, formerly of Pembrokeshire, now Hackney, was brought to Dyfed-Powys Police’s attention by two separate police officers who were working on an operation targeting people involved in online sexual exploitation. The operation deploys undercover officers with specialist online training on a range of social media sites to identify people with a sexual interest in children.

Information provided by the undercover team showed Ford had been communicating with officers on social networks for between four and six months.

Dyfed-Powys Police Detective Constable Joe Hartnell said: “One of the officers purported to be a woman with a 13-year-old daughter, while the other said they were a man with an 11-year-old adopted son, and a seven-year-old foster daughter.

“Believing the officers to be adults with a sexual interest in children, Ford took part in sexualised chat, asking to meet the officers and their children with the intention of carrying out sexual acts.

“Thankfully Ford was in contact with undercover officers at this point, and not members of the public with real children who could have come to serious harm. It is believed he had been talking to at least one other adult online, however it’s not known who this was.”

Dyfed-Powys Police’s Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) attended Ford’s home, where they seized 19 digital devices. During an in-depth forensic investigation, 913 indecent images of children were found – with more than 250 classified as Category A, the most serious.

It was established that Ford was interested in girls aged between 7 and 14, and had made comments online about ‘groping’ girls.

DC Hartnell said: “This is a man who clearly has criminal thoughts about children, and as our enquiries continued a young girl disclosed that she had been inappropriately touched by Ford on three occasions.

“She was incredibly brave in coming forward, and provided us with valuable evidence which allowed us to secure further charges against Ford.”

Ford was charged with 10 offences:

• Possessing indecent photographs / pseudo photographs of a child (x4)
• Distributing indecent photographs / pseudo photographs of a child
• Attempting to cause a child aged between 13 and 15 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity
• Attempt to arrange / facilitate the commission of child sex offence
• Three counts of sexual assault

He appeared at Swansea Crown Court on Monday, February 26, where he was sentenced to five years in prison.

DC Hartnell added: “This has been a lengthy investigation into the actions of a man in a position of trust as a senior social worker, who in fact could not be trusted around children.

“I would like to commend the bravery of the victim in coming forward and talking to officers, as well as acknowledging the work of various departments across Dyfed-Powys Police in gathering strong evidence to convict Ford, and the support of Pembrokeshire County Council.

“We are committed to pursuing those intent on committing harm against the most vulnerable in our society, and would like to assure victims that they will be treated with compassion and dignity when they choose to report crimes to us.”

A Pembrokeshire County Council spokesperson added: “We are aware that an individual formerly employed by the council has been sentenced for several child sex offences.

“These offences were not committed by the individual in the course of their employment with the council, and as with any investigation into child sexual abuse, the local authority cooperated with the criminal investigation, and took all steps to ensure that any children impacted by such offences are identified and supported.

“Anyone who has a concern about the welfare of a child can contact police on 101, the child care assessment team on 01437 764551, or in an emergency, dial 999.”

For information about reporting sexual offences, or where you can find support, visit Rape, sexual assault and other sexual offences | Dyfed-Powys Police

Source: Lullaby Trust published on this website March 12 2024 by Jill Powell

Babies’ airways are vulnerable, particularly in the first few months of life, so it is important that parents and carers are aware of this and the actions they can take to protect them. The simplest way to do this is by sleeping a baby on their back on a firm, flat surface with no padded or cushioned areas. This will help to keep their airways open and reduce the risk of suffocation and SIDS. A cot, Moses basket, bassinet, carry cot, or crib all fulfil these criteria. 

Many baby products on the market are not suitable for babies to sleep in, even some which are designed for this purpose. We aim to empower parents with the knowledge to make informed choices about their baby’s sleeping place and understand why some products are not suitable for baby sleep and how to identify and avoid them.  

Lullaby Trust want parents to be confident about choosing a safer sleep space for their baby. We also want to advise parents in vulnerable or emergency situations what to do if they don’t have a cot or Moses basket. 

This campaign will show parents and carers the simplest way to create a safe sleep space for their baby that will help to protect their vulnerable airway and reduce the risk of SIDS and accidents. 

Safer Sleep Week aims to reach as many people as possible with our life-saving safer sleep advice, but we need your help! 

Help us get Safer Sleep Week trending on social media and use the hashtag #SaferSleepWeek when posting on your socials. Sharing our campaign posts and free online resources is a great way to raise awareness. 

Millions of people on social media alone were reached during last year’s campaign, thanks to you!

Safer Sleep Week is The Lullaby Trust’s national awareness campaign targeting anyone looking after a young baby. It aims to raise awareness of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and the simple advice that reduces the risk of it occurring.

Lullaby trust know that greater awareness of safer sleep leads to a decrease in the numbers of babies dying.

Sadly around 3 babies a week still die from SIDS and if all parents were aware of safer sleep advice many lives could be saved. Around 700,000 babies are born every year in the UK and we need to continue to reach out to all new parents with our life-saving messages.

The theme for this year’s Safer Sleep Week campaign is the safest place. Babies’ airways are vulnerable, particularly in the first few months of life, so it is important that parents and carers are aware of this and the actions they can take to protect them. The simplest way to do this is by sleeping a baby on their back on a firm, flat surface with no padded or cushioned areas. This will help to keep their airways open and reduce the risk of suffocation and SIDS. A cot, Moses basket, bassinet, carry cot, or crib all fulfil these criteria. 

Many baby products on the market are not suitable for babies to sleep in, even some which are designed for this purpose. We aim to empower parents with the knowledge to make informed choices about their baby’s sleeping place and understand why some products are not suitable for baby sleep and how to identify and avoid them.  

Lullaby Trust want parents to be confident about choosing a safer sleep space for their baby. We also want to advise parents in vulnerable or emergency situations what to do if they don’t have a cot or Moses basket. 

This campaign will show parents and carers the simplest way to create a safe sleep space for their baby that will help to protect their vulnerable airway and reduce the risk of SIDS and accidents. 

Source: UK Internet Centre published on this website Friday 8 March 2024

In the past year, our service Report Harmful Content has seen a significant rise in animal abuse reports across social media channels.

Since November 2023, Report Harmful Content can reveal that 36% of the content escalated to industry partners included animal abuse, with the vast majority involving the abuse of monkeys. During this time, Report Harmful Content has successfully been able to remove 84% of this harmful content being shared across social media platforms.

The content, which is often distressing to watch, usually involves monkeys being physically and psychologically hurt and mistreated. Concerningly, Report Harmful Content has found that alongside much of this content, many viewers have actively engaged in and encouraged their torture, revealing a concerning global trend.

A Global Concern

A year-long investigation by the BBC revealed that many of these videos are part of a “sadistic global monkey torture ring stretching from Indonesia to the United States,” the investigation found that torture rings had customers across the world, including the United Kingdom, paying macaques’ owners to film them being tortured and killed.

Journalists discovered that social media channels had groups ranging from hundreds to thousands of people gathering to encourage and pay to see the abuse of animals. Alongside this, the videos were being distributed across various social media platforms, making them widely accessible to the general public.

Support Available

For most social media platforms, content involving animal cruelty is strictly forbidden. To support this, Report Harmful Content has continued to escalate content to be removed at the request of users, with most escalated cases resulting in the successful removal of content.

New legislation brought in under the Online Safety Act will help to enforce these guidelines further, with the Act ensuring that all social media platforms will be expected ‘to proactively tackle the illegal content and have it swiftly removed.’

The new legislation will cover all users within the UK who have seen animal abuse content on social media platforms. For more information on how to make a report to a social media platform, or to view their community guidelines, visit the Report Harmful Content website.

What Can You Do If You See Animal Abuse Online?

This concerning surge in animal abuse videos, particularly those involving monkeys, is a distressing trend that demands urgent attention and action.

To report any form of animal abuse online, users should always report content directly to the social media platform it is hosted on. If the social media platform or website fails to take action, anyone over the age of 13 in the UK can use Report Harmful Content to escalate their report directly to the platform involved. Guidance on how to report content can be found on the Report Harmful Content website.

Make a report with Report Harmful Content