Safeguarding Children and Young People in Sport

Bambos Charalambous Excerpts

Tuesday 1st May 2018 Westminster Hall

[Bambos Charalambous (Enfield, Southgate) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the safeguarding of children and young people in sport.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger. A few months after my election I was contacted by one of my constituents, Mr Ian Ackley, who is present here today, who told me that he was one of the people who had been sexually abused as a child by the serial sex offender and predatory paedophile Barry Bennell, who was convicted of 43 counts of historic child sex abuse in February this year. I shall briefly tell Ian’s story, to illustrate the failings of the past, and then explain what I think still needs to be done to safeguard children and young people in sport.

Ian told me how, as a talented young footballer aged nine, he had been spotted by Bennell. Bennell used his charm and suggested connections to top-tier football clubs to persuade parents to allow their sons to sign for his club White Knowl, which he ran in north Derbyshire. Ian told me that early on, as the team was doing well, and having won the trust of his parents, Bennell suggested that Ian stay overnight at his place so that he could talk tactics with him and Ian would be fresher for the game the next day. The parents, being very trusting and totally taken in by Bennell, consented to the stay-over; the sexual abuse began immediately. Ian was not the only child to stay over. On some occasions there would be a number of boys there, some sleeping in the same bed as Bennell. Staying overnight at Bennell’s place soon became the norm. It is hard to imagine that happening today, but those were different times.

Ian, in talking to me, made it clear that many parents of boys from other Manchester youth teams that his team played against were aware of Bennell’s abuse. On some occasions they confronted Bennell at matches, but it would seem they had either chosen not to report the abuse to the police or to take the matter further, or else that they had not been listened to. Ian told me that the sexual abuse stopped when he was 14 years old, when Bennell wound down his youth football club. Ian’s football career came to an end a few years later. In 1996 he went on to become the first person to publicly blow the whistle on Bennell’s abuse in the “Dispatches” television programme, which led to Bennell being convicted of a number of sexual offences against him.

The trauma and anguish of being sexually abused remained with Ian and are still with him. Since the recent revelations about Bennell came out two years ago, Ian’s personal and work life have suffered. Ian has used his experience with other abuse victims Paul Stewart, David White and Derek Bell to set up an organisation called SAVE, which seeks to engage with victims and others, to inform and provide advice about safeguarding in sport, and to raise awareness about potential loopholes and oversights in procedures and day-to-day activity.

I, like many others, assumed that the sexual abuse by Bennell that Ian and others suffered could not happen today because we live in different times from the 1980s, and sport has changed beyond all recognition since that time; but on closer inspection I think that there are areas that need improving. Before preparing for this debate I met with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the head of safeguarding at the Football Association and a representative of the Lawn Tennis Association, and I spoke to a number of people involved in safeguarding. The FA has an exemplary safeguarding policy endorsed by the NSPCC child protection in sport unit, which it should be proud of. It even has a grassroots football safeguarding policy, which covers everything—recruitment of volunteers and staff, creating a safe environment, criminal record checks, travel and trips, vulnerable people and even cyber-bullying. Ideally, all clubs should fully implement and abide by those policies, but I have a concern about how very small Sunday morning football clubs, which are run predominantly by volunteers, will be able to ensure that all those steps are taken without finding them extremely burdensome.

[Mr Gregory Campbell (East Londonderry) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on what is undoubtedly a timely debate. Of course young people and children should be safeguarded, but does he agree, having alluded to volunteers, that we must respect the integrity of the many thousands of them who are above reproach, and ensure that the tiny minority who have been abusive are completely and utterly isolated and alienated from dealing with young children in sport?

[Bambos Charalambous]

The hon. Gentleman makes an excellent point. Trying to close the loopholes, to stop abuse happening, is paramount; but we must also take into account the fact that many smaller clubs are run entirely by volunteers, and we must thank the genuine volunteers who are there for the benefit of the young people in the sport.

More structural support is needed at the regional or county level to ensure that small clubs get help with implementing safeguarding policies. There should be someone at the regional or county level who ensures that the policies are adhered to and that proper monitoring takes place. It is often at the smaller clubs that abuse will first happen, as in Ian Ackley’s case. We also need to ensure that children and young people feel able to speak out and feel that they will be listened to when they call out abuse. That is why we need to make sure that they can do so in a safe environment, and that they are encouraged to speak out. Children and young people could be given confidence during player induction at sport settings about speaking up if they come across abuse, and there are other means whereby clubs can encourage young people to speak out whenever they come across abuse or anything happens to them.

When I met the Lawn Tennis Association I was staggered to discover that not all tennis clubs are affiliated to it. It has approximately 2,700 members, but more than 1,000 clubs are not registered with it. Some people might say, “So what? What difference does it make?” This year, for the first time, the LTA has made it a requirement that all affiliated clubs use only LTA-accredited coaches, who must meet a minimum safeguarding standard. Unregistered clubs, on the other hand, are free to appoint whomever they choose as a tennis coach. According to the LTA, there are more than 800 “accredited tennis coaches”. There are other coaching courses apart from the LTA’s, but it is worth noting that some accreditation can be obtained online for as little as £80. That means that a child or young person could be having lessons at an unregistered tennis club with a coach who obtained their accreditation online by answering tick-box questions.

What I am saying is in no way intended to call into question good unaffiliated tennis clubs and coaches, but, as we have seen time and again, people who abuse children and young people find a way to get close to them, just as rain gets through cracks in the pavement. The question arises whether coaching courses should be licensed and have Government-approved kitemarks to give people an idea of the quality of the safe- guarding training undergone by the coach. Perhaps that could be a role for the child protection in sport unit, which already gives ratings to governing bodies. It is often hard for parents to navigate all the different accreditations and codes, and anything that makes things simpler, and easier to understand, should be encouraged.

More needs to be done about summer sports courses. As things stand, there would be nothing to stop me or anyone else hiring a field and setting up my own summer football skills course for kids. With some clever marketing, I could be up and running with some cones, bibs and footballs. I think more checks need to be carried out in those casual arrangements, too. It is the sort of thing that local authority trading standards teams could check, provided they had the funding to do so.

[Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. Does he agree that all sports clubs, at whatever level, dealing with children should have whistleblowing policies under which they can refer themselves to a Government or sports organisation and procedures that are available for parents and children alike?

[Bambos Charalambous]

My hon. Friend makes a very good point. Whistleblowing is important and must be catered for as far as possible. Clubs should be able to report things higher up and whistleblowers’ reports should be properly investigated.

Having mentioned coaches, I want to turn to the definition of “regulated activity”. The Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 tightened the definition of regulated activity in relation to children to mean working “regularly” —four or more days in a 30-day period—and “unsupervised” with children. Coaching falls into that category. If someone satisfies those criteria, sports clubs can carry out an enhanced DBS—Disclosure and Barring Service—check, with barred list check to see whether the individual is barred from working with children. However, it is an offence for a club to ask for an enhanced DBS check on an individual if the role does not require one. For example, the coach who coaches the youth team every Thursday night would be classified as falling into that category, but their assistant, who is technically supervised by the coach, would not be caught by that legislation.

Supervision does not always prevent abuse from happening, as it often happens in plain view, with people disbelieving that someone whom they have got to know well and even considered a friend could ever commit such vile acts of abuse.

[Laura Smith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate. I would like to place on the record my support and complete admiration for those victims who have so bravely spoken out about their terrible experiences at the hands of Barry Bennell. They were let down. My constituents who were victims are fighting tirelessly so that something like that can never happen again. It is so important that no stone is left unturned.

[Laura Smith]

He was found guilty.

[Bambos Charalambous]

I think that my hon. Friend was referring to someone who has been convicted. We should congratulate the people who came forward and whose cases led to convictions. More cases may follow, and we do not want to go into that area, but my hon. Friend makes a good point about the bravery of the people who came forward.

A predatory individual could simply seek a supervised role with a sports club that would allow them access to children and young people. They could be groomed over a long period and, once the individual had built a trusting relationship with them, they could be exploited and abused. There is evidence to show that adults who have been barred from working with children will continue to try to get access. The NSPCC has discovered that, since the definition of regulated activity was changed in 2012, more than 1,100 people who have been barred from working with children because they pose a threat have been caught applying to work in regulated activity by the DBS. I am not aware of any statistics in relation to unregulated activity.

Sports clubs can find it complex to identify which role should be classified as regulated activity and which should not, and could be at risk of committing an offence of over-checking if they decide to carry out a DBS check with barred list information on an individual in a role that does not require it. It is clear to me that that places sports clubs in a difficult position and that the definition of regulated activity needs to be amended and widened.

Another area that needs re-examining is “Positions of trust”, as defined by sections 21 and 22 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003. As the law stands, children are protected from being groomed into sexual relationships by trusted adults with power and influence over them. That applies to teachers, social workers and doctors, but not to sports coaches or youth leaders. That creates the absurd situation that if a physical education teacher teaching football at school engaged in sexual activity with a 16-year-old child, that would be an offence, but if the same individual in a sports coaching role did the same thing outside school, that would not be. There should be no distinction between the two, and the law needs to be changed accordingly.

[David Simpson (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on obtaining the debate. We can put safeguards in place for the future, but what more can be done to help those victims who have been traumatised—those people who are living with the trauma day in, day out?

[Bambos Charalambous]

The hon. Gentleman poses an excellent question. There needs to be much more support for those people in relation to their mental health. Many people are suffering trauma as a result of past events. We need to ensure that there is a proper support network for them, so that they get the counselling, advice and therapy that they need in order to come to terms with the appalling effects of historical sexual abuse.

To return to the point about positions of trust, many national governing bodies for sports want to see the change to which I referred, and have told the NSPCC that more than 50% of all safeguarding cases arise from inappropriate relationships with sports coaches. I understand that last year the Minister announced that a ministerial commitment had been secured to extend the “position of trust” provision to sports coaches. I invite her to update us on the progress of that commitment.

Closer working with the police will be necessary. I have been made aware of instances in which the police have suggested that an individual may pose a risk to children at a sports club, and that has led to the individual’s suspension, only for the police to take no further action because the suspension means that there is no longer a risk. That sort of practice exposes clubs to challenges to their decisions to suspend and may have an adverse effect on an innocent individual.

Many victims of abuse will need advice and support when reporting it and also in the aftermath, when they may suffer from depression, have suicidal thoughts, be at risk of self-harm and suffer with their mental health generally. I know that last year the Government published a Green Paper on children and young people’s mental health, but will the Minister give serious consideration to out-of-hours provision of support for victims?

At the start of the debate, I touched on how Barry Bennell was able to get away with his sexual abuse of boys, despite it being an open secret in Manchester and other places. It is the responsibility of us all to call out abuse when we see it. I would like to think that, given the recent sex abuse scandals, none of us would tolerate knowing about any such abuse and not reporting it.

Playing sport should be fun, safe, enjoyable and rewarding. The purpose of this debate is to ensure that it remains so for children and young people. For the sake of people such as Ian Ackley and the other brave victims who spoke out about their abuse, and those who have not done so or were not able to do so, who have been robbed of their youth by the actions of evil men, I hope that by speaking up and taking action now, we will be preventing future abuse from happening in sport.

I appreciate that some of the matters that I have mentioned may fall outside the Minister’s remit, but I want to ensure that these issues have been properly aired and I hope that she will be able to use this debate to influence her ministerial colleagues to bring about the changes that will make children and young people in sport safer.

--- Later in debate ---

[Bambos Charalambous]

First, I thank the hon. Member for Moray (Douglas Ross) for speaking about the excellent work that Children 1st does in Scotland. There is much we can learn from it, and I look forward to finding out more about that. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said that unspoken abuse was a UK-wide issue. He also talked about positions of trust and roles and settings. Those are important issues, and I am grateful to him for making those points. The hon. Member for Paisley and Renfrewshire North (Gavin Newlands) spoke not only about sport but about the issues outside sport in dance and other activities. They encompass the wider child safeguarding issues we need to take into account. He also talked about getting a better understanding of the definition, the excellent work of Children 1st and the need to involve young people in setting policies and standards. Often, we draw up policies and forget to involve young people, and it is important that we bring them on board. My hon. Friend the Member for Tooting (Dr Allin-Khan) spoke about safe spaces in sport, our collective responsibility and mandatory reporting. Again, we need to take those into account. That could be progressed further.

It is pleasing to hear the Minister’s comments and about the positive steps she has taken. I hope we will see more action, particularly in relation to positions of trust and regulated activity. I hope she will keep us informed about that, but she is right that it is not only about those areas; we also need wider support to ensure that DBS checks are taken seriously at the regional and county level. She spoke about non-funded sport, which needs far more support than the governing bodies, about the duty of care to participants and about the need to speak out.

I agree with the Minister on the excellent work the NSPCC has done. Its briefings for this debate were exceptional. We need to involve it as much as we can in these issues. Obviously, we should not forget the support that comes from adults and volunteers. As she rightly said, one case of abuse in sport is too many. I hope that she will come back at some stage with positive news about positions of trust and regulated activity. I am grateful for her response today. It has been a helpful debate, and I hope it will be the first step in ensuring that young people and children enjoy sport and get amazing benefits from it, but are kept safe for as long as possible.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the safeguarding of children and young people in sport.