Memorandum submitted by Child Exploitation
and Online Protection Centre (CEOP)
In response to the Culture, Media and Sport
Committee's invitation to interested parties to send written submissions
to their inquiry on harmful content on the Internet and in video
games, please find enclosed with this covering letter a copy of
our response to the Byron Review, commissioned by the DCSF.[1]
CEOP is primarily a national law enforcement
agency which is affiliated to the Serious Organised Crime Agency
(SOCA) but retains full operational independence.
CEOP was set up to identify, locate and protect
children from sexual exploitation and online abuse; to engage
and empower children, young people, parents and the community
through information and education; and to enhance existing responses
by working with industry to make the online environment safer
by design and by improving the management of high risk offenders.
Over the last year, this remit has expanded into the wider area
of off line child abuse and exploitation, including child trafficking,
augmented by the significant developments in the UK Government's
response to Trafficking in Human Beings (THB).
CEOP provides a different response to traditional
efforts to tackle child sexual exploitation and deliver better
online protection. By learning from what it does, understanding
the nature of the environment and working in partnership with
key stakeholders it aims to better protect children and young
people through a truly holistic approach, which does not simply
focus on the technology but the behaviours that surround it.
Our approach to the issues raised around safeguarding
children and young people who use new technologies, is covered
in our submission to Byron Review's call for evidence. The key
points were:
— a more holistic approach by
government in dealing with all issues that affect children and
young people where new technology is concerned;
— recognition that the focus should
be on behaviours not simply the technology and that any criminal
legislation about behaviour now or in the future needs to take
this into account;
— a critical examination of whether
the voluntary, self-regulation approach to protecting children
and young people works effectively as it stands and actually delivers
real and tangible change when it comes to the protection of children,
whether it is sustainable in the long-term as new providers come
on stream and actually delivers change, including the need to
monitor the implementation of good practice guidance by service
providers;
— a single agency or national
centre of excellence to provide the strategic direction to empower
those working locally to safeguard children and young people from
harm and to lead and direct child exploitation and online protection
work internationally It is essential that this single agency,
work in partnership with relevant stakeholders from the pubic,
private and third sectors, with the necessary resources, expertise
and powers, including police and regulatory;
— Internet safety and security,
including acceptable behaviour, to be dealt with by schools, etc
across the curricula, as whole school concept, rather than as
an add on to an ICT lesson;
— building on established brands,
such as TUK, to provide nationally consistent resources for a
wider Internet and security programme of educational activity
to children, young people, parents/carers and those employed to
protect them; and
— a properly-funded public awareness
campaign, which includes the use of all media, but particularly
TV, which delivers simple key messages about the benefits and
risks associated with Internet, gaming, etc.
January 2008
1 Not printed. Back
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