Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse

Debate between Lisa Smart and Jess Phillips

Tuesday 2nd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

I am grateful as always to the Minister for advance sight of her statement. In every single conversation about this issue in this House, our first thought must always be with the victims and the survivors. No child should ever suffer the devastating trauma of sexual exploitation or abuse. These crimes are abhorrent and an assault on the very values of our society. We carry a responsibility to act, to secure justice for victims, to ensure that offenders answer for their crimes and to build a future in which such suffering is not repeated.

In 2022, Professor Alexis Jay published her independent inquiry into child sexual abuse. In June, Baroness Casey released her report on group-based exploitation. I am really grateful to the Minister for her update on the progress being made, but when does she expect to have implemented the crucial recommendations from both reports?

Baroness Casey was clear about one of her key recommendations: the Government must end the practice of out-of-area taxis by introducing stronger national standards for taxi licensing and driver regulation. Across Greater Manchester, we know that problem all too well; for years, drivers have exploited the fragmented system by securing the easiest licences to obtain from councils in one area and then operating elsewhere. As a result, many taxis working in Greater Manchester are licensed 100 miles away in Wolverhampton. What work is the Minister doing to address that specific issue? It feels like there is an opportunity to do so this afternoon through the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, but that opportunity has not yet been taken. If an amendment to the Bill is the way to achieve that aim, will the Minister work with colleagues across the House to ensure that this important recommendation from Baroness Casey can be delivered?

Finally, I turn to an issue that I and others have raised repeatedly, and on which some progress was hinted at in recent press reports. Could the Minister confirm when Parliament will see legislation for a Hillsborough law, as promised many times by the Government, to guarantee that public officials and authorities co-operate fully with a duty of candour in cases such as this one, including in the upcoming national inquiry?

[Jess Phillips]

I met the Department for Transport on the issue of taxi licensing last week—this is about looking for a legislative vehicle. The Government have said that we will undo some of the harm caused by the deregulation legislation of the past, including the dangers that have come about related to safeguarding and taxi licensing. The hon. Lady invited Members to work across the House. In every interaction—there have been many—that I have had with victims of this crime since the last time I or the Home Secretary stood at the Dispatch Box making a statement, they have asked if we could just work together and stop throwing mud at each other. I will happily work with anyone on this issue. We are currently looking for legislative vehicles, but we do seek to legislate.

We expect the Hillsborough law shortly; I am sorry that that is not a very prescriptive answer, but that law is very much expected.

Child Rape Gangs

Debate between Lisa Smart and Jess Phillips

Monday 28th April 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

No child should ever endure sexual exploitation or abuse. Such horrific and unacceptable crimes must have no place in our society. Victims and survivors of these crimes must be at the centre of our thoughts whenever we discuss these matters. We owe it to them not just to offer words of support, but to deliver justice and bring offenders to account. That also means taking firm preventive action to protect future generations from such harm. The independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, led by Professor Alexis Jay, published its recommendations in 2022. Will the Minister please set out a clear timetable for the full implementation of the Jay inquiry’s recommendations? Does the Minister agree that a duty of candour, via a Hillsborough law, would bring transparency and accountability to any future inquiry? Will the Government commit to a timetable for delivering that?

[Jess Phillips]

I thank the hon. Lady, and I agree with her that inquiries are only worth anything if we crack on. That is why, when I came to this House before the recess, I said it would go alongside the publishing of an action plan on the recommendations of the Jay report and Jay’s work into grooming gangs. That has all been published as part of a Government plan, but it is only the beginning. Actually, this is going to take years and years. On the duty of candour, it seems appalling that we have to ask people to tell the truth, yet here we are. Of course, that is what we must be striving for, as the hon. Lady says, on behalf of the victims and survivors.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lisa Smart and Jess Phillips

Monday 13th January 2025 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

When it comes to keeping children, especially girls, safe from violence and abuse, there has been a lot of talk about inquiries over the last week; indeed, some comments have been more constructive than others. Inquiries can be a powerful tool for uncovering the truth about injustice, but they only reach their full potential when there is a duty of candour that requires public officials and authorities to co-operate fully. The Government have committed to bringing that duty into force, so can the Minister and her colleagues commit to a timeline for introducing the Hillsborough law to Parliament?

[Jess Phillips]

The number of national public inquires that we have had—for example, into Hillsborough, for which nobody has been held accountable—shows the importance of the Hillsborough law and the duty of candour. Obviously, we committed to it in our manifesto, and it will absolutely be introduced by this Government. We will keep in touch about the timeline for that.

Tackling Stalking

Debate between Lisa Smart and Jess Phillips

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

I thank the Minister for advance sight of her statement, which I welcome. Stalking is a horrific crime that impacts every aspect of the victim’s life, threatening their mental health, wellbeing and, all too often, their physical safety. Far too many people, in particular women and girls, face that pervasive threat, so I welcome the developments that the Minister has announced today, particularly around improving the police response to stalking. That will be vital for rebuilding women’s trust in policing.

Sadly, I have first-hand experience of the topic. From my own knowledge, the police can find it easier to deal with such crimes via harassment legislation, rather than stalking legislation. Police often assume that the perpetrator is a former partner when the conditions of a restraining order are breached, for example, thereby failing to recognise the wide range of circumstances that can lead to these frightening situations.

We should not take a one-size-fits-all approach to stalking, because that could leave a legal hole for victims when the stalking is not related to domestic abuse or a previous relationship. I would welcome some more detail from the Minister on whether the Government’s plan will include better training for police officers and 999 call handlers to ensure that when a stalking victim comes forward, the response is always sensitive, effective and personalised.

It is right that the Minister is considering how best we can hold perpetrators to account, so I would welcome further details on how she is working with the Ministry of Justice to tackle the Conservatives’ legacy of criminal court backlogs, which will be the only way to truly ensure that stalking victims get the swift justice they deserve. No woman should face the fear of being targeted by a stalker, and it is absolutely right that we work across the House to make that a reality.

[Jess Phillips]

The hon. Lady is exactly right about a lack of faith in resources, which is exactly what led to the super-complaint being made. She is right that there is a 60:40 split between non-stranger stalking, including after previous domestic abuse or a relationship, and other stalking. We have to get it right for people who have experienced either type of stalking, because the experience is the same.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council is engaging with 43 police forces to co-ordinate the response to the recommendations of the super-complaint. Police chiefs are required to publish an action plan setting out how they will respond; some have already done so. I pay massive tribute to Cheshire and to the Met, which has an amazing multi-agency system. I will be monitoring forces’ progress to ensure they respond. We will be reviewing the offences in sections 2A and 4A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. As the hon. Lady rightly points out, those offences sit within harassment legislation. As somebody who has brought a number of harassment charges, I know that sometimes the charge that appears on the sheet does not feel like the one of which I have been the victim.