Yvette Cooper says she will force professionals to report child sexual abuse claims
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Home secretary announces plans to implement key demand from Jay inquiry in England and Wales. Professionals who work with children will face criminal sanctions if they fail to report claims of child sexual abuse under a law to be introduced this year, Yvette Cooper has told MPs.
The home secretary has promised to implement a key demand from Prof Alexis Jay’s child sexual abuse inquiry after Keir Starmer turned down demands from Elon Musk and Kemi Badenoch for a new investigation into paedophile gangs. The introduction of mandatory reporting in England and Wales would be included in the crime and policing bill expected to be introduced to parliament in the spring, Cooper told parliament.
“We will make it mandatory to report abuse, and we will put the measures in the crime and policing bill that will be put before parliament this spring, making it an offence with professional and criminal sanctions to fail to report or cover up child sexual abuse,” she said.
In a sharp attack upon the previous government’s record, she added: “This measure is something I first called for in response to the reports and failings in Rotherham 10 years ago. It’s something that the Prime Minister first called for 12 years ago based on his experience as Director of Public Prosecutions, and the case was clear then. But we’ve lost a decade, and we need to get on with it now.”.
