Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he will take to ensure there is an effective cross-departmental governance process to implement the recommendations of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, published 20 October 2022.

The Government is truly grateful to victims and survivors who bravely came forward to share their perspectives and experiences with the Inquiry. Their testimony has helped to shed further light on the horrific sexual abuse suffered by children, and the extent to which children across England and Wales have been failed by institutions that should have protected them.

Insight from victims and survivors will continue to be invaluable in doubling down on our efforts to tackle this terrible crime, as well as making sure appropriate support is in place to help victims and survivors rebuild their lives.

The Government is committed to engaging with victims and survivors, as well as a wide range of partners including children’s charities, frontline professionals, law enforcement, and local authorities to ensure that the voices of victims and survivors are kept at the heart of our work to keep children safe from child sexual exploitation and abuse, online and in communities across the UK and around the world.

We owe it to the victims and survivors to give the Inquiry’s recommendations proper time, consideration, and attention, so the Government will now carefully consider all of the findings and recommendations, before responding fully within the Inquiry’s six-month timeframe.

We will work across Government at every level to address the issues raised by the Inquiry. The Home Secretary has already committed to convening ministers across Whitehall to drive forward progress. This is in addition to the existing cross-departmental Governance that is already in place under the Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy, which also monitors the implementation of recommendations made by the Inquiry.

Where we can act more quickly, we will. We will keep learning from past systemic failings and will take every possible step to ensure other children, young people and victims and survivors are not let down in the future.