Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the value for money of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in the context of the changes to Government policy that have resulted from that inquiry.

The Government has carefully considered all recommendations made by the Inquiry to date. These recommendations informed the development of the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, which was published on 22 January, and will continue to inform its implementation.

In particular, the Government is implementing a number of IICSA’s recommendations as part of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. This includes including further ‘positions of trust’ to which the existing offences contained within sections 16–19 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 will apply, when certain activities are knowingly carried out on a regular basis within a sport or a religion. We are also placing a requirement for the courts and the police to have regard to a list of countries when they are considering the need for foreign travel prohibitions as part of the civil orders.

The Inquiry’s recommendations also have a reach far beyond central Government, and continue to inform other agencies’ approaches to addressing any institutional child protection gaps, and assisting with the culture change needed to improve the system-wide response to child sexual abuse.

Crucially, the Inquiry’s Truth Project, which has offered nearly 6,000 victims and survivors of child sexual abuse the opportunity to share their experiences, has helped to ensure the voice of victims is at the heart of organisational and societal changes going forwards.

The Inquiry’s final Report is due to be published next year which will include further findings and recommendations, which Government will carefully consider.