Source: Ministry of Justice published on this website Monday 26 February 2024 by Jill Powell

Thousands of offenders on community and suspended sentences will no longer be able to secretly change their name as part of tough new rules to protect the public.

The Community and Suspended Sentences (Notification of Details) Bill will bring the law for those on community orders in line with offenders on licence. The Private Members’ Bill passed its second reading in Parliament on Friday 23 February, after the Government signalled its support. 

The change will mean all offenders and youth criminals will have to notify their probation officer about any name changes, online aliases or changes to contact details.

Offenders who refuse to comply could be taken back to court facing a tougher sentence, including possible prison time.  

Prisons and Probation Minister, Edward Argar, said:    

“Deceitful offenders should never be able to hide from justice and any offender that tries to do this will be punished. Our number one priority is public protection so it is vital that our probation officers have all the information they need to keep a watchful eye on offenders – whether that be online or in real life.”

The Bill was brought forward by Ruth Jones MP she said:

“I am delighted that my Bill has secured its Second Reading, on a cross party basis, and will continue its passage through Parliament.This Bill is about keeping our communities safe and ensuring that we do that in deeds as well as words. I look forward to taking the Bill through to its next stage - it cannot come a minute sooner.”

This Bill comes alongside the Home Secretary’s commitment to restrict the ability of certain registered sex offenders to change their name in specific circumstances, which will be included in the Criminal Justice Bill. 

These changes will strengthen the Probation Service’s ability to robustly supervise offenders in the community and keep the public safe. Funding for the Probation Service has been increased by an additional £155 million a year since 2020/21 to recruit record levels of staff and reduce caseloads. The number of Probation staff in post has increased by 17% since June 2021.

The Bill will amend the Sentencing Act 2020 to create a duty on offenders to notify probation or Youth Offending Teams of any change of name and/or contact details if they are sentenced to a Community Order, Suspended Sentence Order, Youth Rehabilitation Order or Referral Order.

Source: Department for Education published on this website Thursday 22 February 2024 by Jill Powell

The updated Guidance helps schools develop a whole school approach to good mental health and wellbeing helps children and young people:

• develop
• attend school
• engage in learning
• fulfil their potential

Schools and colleges contribute to wellbeing by providing:

• support for pupils and learners who need help
• Embedding an a safe, calm and supportive learning environment
• early targeted evidence-based, holistic, whole school or college approach helps achieve this.

Schools and colleges should identify and train a mental health lead. The mental health lead should be a member of staff empowered to develop and oversee their setting’s whole school or college approach.

Source: UK Safer Internet Centre published on this website Wednesday 23 February 2024 by Jill Powell

The UK Safer Internet Centre (UK SIC) is pleased to announce that Lightspeed Systems, Netsweeper and Smoothwall are the first filtering systems to be accredited under the new filtering accreditation scheme provided by the UK SIC.

As technology has developed, so have Filtering and Monitoring systems. The ever-changing online landscape has made this an increasingly complex area where schools and colleges have evidently needed more support in selecting, deploying and managing their filtering and monitoring systems.

Filtering Accreditation Scheme

The newly introduced accreditation scheme builds on the appropriate filtering and monitoring guidance provided by the UK Safer Internet Centre since it was first published in 2016.  For schools in England, these have been embedded in Keeping children safe in education – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and subsequently Filtering and monitoring standards for schools and colleges – Guidance – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)) to help schools (and IT providers) comprehend what should be considered as ‘appropriate’ filtering and monitoring.

Using these appropriate filtering standards, the UK Safer Internet Centre, in partnership with the University of Bristol (REPHRAIN), assesses both the technical capabilities of filtering systems as well as verify their suitability for use in schools and colleges, to provide further trust and confidence in what systems schools decide to implement.

Accredited Systems

We are pleased to announce that Lightspeed Systems, Netsweeper and Smoothwall have successfully passed this assessment process and have achieved an accredited filtering system status. The UK Safer Internet Centre is now working on accrediting more filtering systems and will announce more in due course.

David Wright (Director of UK Safer Internet Centre) said: 

“To have this scheme in place, will afford schools and colleges greater confidence about the selection, suitability and effectiveness of their filtering systems. We have seen first-hand the importance of filtering and monitoring systems, and now, this added layer of validation can support schools to strengthen their own protections against harmful online content. We recognise Lightspeed Systems, Netsweeper and Smoothwall to have filtering systems suitable for schools and colleges and invite other providers to join the initiative.”

Source: Home Office published on this site Wednesday 21 February 2024 by Jill Powell

There will be a legal requirement for anyone in regulated activity relating to children in England, including teachers or healthcare professionals, to report it if they know a child is being sexually abused.

Those who fail to report child sexual abuse they are aware of, falling short of their legal duties, face being barred from working with young people. 

Anyone who actively protects child sexual abusers – by intentionally blocking others from reporting or covering up the crime – could go to prison for 7 years. 

By making mandatory reporting a legal requirement, the government is delivering on a key recommendation in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) report to protect children from harm and make sure authorities never again turn a blind eye to this kind of devastating crime.

In a move to further protect people from sexual predators, the police are being given greater powers to stop registered sex offenders from changing their name if they think they still pose a risk to their communities.

This will mean those who commit these despicable crimes face the full force of the law and are managed under tough measures, preventing them from offending again.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said:

There is no excuse for turning a blind eye to a child’s pain.

Having listened to the voices of victims and survivors and reviewed the work of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, we are working at pace to get a mandatory reporting duty for child sexual abuse onto the statute book.

We’re also going further, equipping the police with more powers to prevent those who have committed abhorrent sexual crimes in the past from evading the police by changing their name.

We will continue to use all levers at our disposal to tackle this horrific crime and keep women and children safe.

Minister for Victims and Safeguarding Laura Farris said:

This government has introduced robust legislation for protecting children. But we know children were failed in the past, and that’s why we commissioned the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

By bringing into force a mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse – the inquiry’s principal recommendation – we are sending a clear message that children will never be let down whether in schools, sports settings or any supervised environment.

As someone who worked on the Inquiry before coming into politics this is personal to me. We will continue to support the police in the toughest crack down on anyone who poses a risk to children.

Gabrielle Shaw, Chief Executive for The National Association for People Abused in Childhood said:

NAPAC welcomes this important measure by the government that will improve safeguarding of children and increase accountability amongst those who have a duty of care.

The introduction of mandatory reporting is a big step in the right direction, which must be implemented alongside an approach that prioritises the wellbeing of the child and ensures they have access to ongoing, specialist support. This will require investment in training requirements, wider supporting structures and effective tracking and review.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for the Management of Violent and Sexual Offenders, Assistant Chief Constable Jonny Blackwell, said:

Managing the potential risk posed by registered sexual offenders within the community is a complex area of work for police and we work closely with partners as part of a multi-agency approach to manage these offenders every day.

UK policing has some of the most advanced and stringent tools in the world to manage registered sex offenders, however we will always seek innovative ways to continue to keep up with the changing world we work in.

Any new restrictions which enable us to more effectively manage the risk posed by offenders to the public are welcome.

Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Professor Alexis Jay OBE said:

I welcome the Home Secretary’s statement that measures to introduce mandatory reporting will be included in the Criminal Justice Bill. I look forward to working with the Home Secretary on the detail of this as the bill progresses.

Under the proposed changes, police will be able to issue a notice to sex offenders who continue to spark concern blocking them from changing or attempting to change their name on official documents such as passports and driving licences without their approval.

Today’s announcement builds on the UK’s existing laws to manage sex offenders, which are among the toughest in the world.

The government is also investing in a range of work to strengthen law enforcement capacity and capability to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation. This includes:

£6.5 million this year for the Tackling Organised Exploitation programme (TOEX), which brings together local, regional and national data to ensure police can effectively uncover and prosecute exploitation

£1.9 million in the new Child Sexual Exploitation Police Taskforce, which is providing practical, expert, on the ground support for forces with a particular focus on group-based child sexual exploitation, including grooming gangs

The new measures will be introduced as amendments at report stage of the Criminal Justice Bill in the House of Commons and will apply in England and Wales.