£40 million funding to fight child sexual abuse – but is this just a distraction?

Last Updated: February 16, 2017By

Amber Rudd, Theresa May’s replacement as Home Secretary, on a visit to Barnardo’s Safer Futures sexual abuse service in Salford [Image: PA].

Sorry to pour doubt on what seems at first sight to be a good idea, but isn’t this just an attempt to take attention away from the real issues?

Tories love to make apparently big gestures, but already local councils are saying that the new funding won’t end the risk to child protection services.

And, while any extra move to bring abusers to justice is welcome, the fact is that investigations into public figures who may have carried out such abuse have stalled.

No less than three chairpeople have resigned; shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has warned that it is facing a “crisis of credibility” and the largest victims’ group involved, the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association, has withdrawn from involvement, describing the inquiry as a “debacle” which “lurched from disaster to disaster”.

So we’re all being distracted from the failings of the inquiry into child sexual abuse by a project that seems intended to do nothing more than grab headlines.

£40 million is just 2.1 per cent of the £1.9 billion investment that local authorities say is needed to provide adequate protection for children.

Our government is not run by Conservatives but by confidence tricksters.

Will your child suffer because they prefer to fund tax cuts for their friends rather than pursue perverts who might belong to the same social group?

Ministers have pledged £40m towards the fight against child sexual abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

The cash will go towards bringing offenders to justice, targeting online exploitation, and protecting vulnerable children at risk of trafficking.

A new £7.5m “centre of expertise” will be set up to offer support and guidance to professionals on the front line.

But councils are warning that a “funding gap” of £1.9bn could put child protection services at risk.

Source: Child sexual abuse: Agencies to get £40m funding boost – BBC News

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2 Comments

  1. Barry Davies February 16, 2017 at 12:15 pm - Reply

    Enquiry where the government of any hue claims it is being carried out means we have a set goal and will attain it through the means of an enquiry, not what the public think they are.

  2. NMac February 16, 2017 at 12:18 pm - Reply

    You’re right Mike, a set of nasty confidence tricksters, …which reminds me what has happened to the Tory election expenses fraud investigation?

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