Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme for parents with vulnerable children.

The Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2021 set out a commitment to review the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme, so that key adults are empowered with the advice and tools they need to identify risk and keep children safe from sexual abuse.

An Annual Data Requirement for police forces was introduced in April 2021, requiring police forces in England and Wales to submit data on the number of applications made, how many related to registered sex offenders and how many resulted in disclosure. This management information being collated is relatively new, may be subject to change, and should be handled with caution, but there is evidence to suggest that more than 3,300 applications were made to the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme between April and December 2021.

To further increase accessibility of the scheme, an online application route for the Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme was piloted in 2021. An evaluation of the pilot phase was positive, showing the online form is easy and accessible to the public, and gathers the information the police need to begin the applications, which has led to the roll-out of this online application across the majority of forces in England and Wales.

The Home Office is also working with policing and third-sector representatives to update the guidance and supporting materials for the scheme to ensure it is as effective and accessible as possible.