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Police chiefs, headteachers, faith groups and charities are among groups calling on the government to implement recommendations from an inquiry into child sexual abuse as the row over grooming gangs continues.
The coalition, made up of 65 major charities, community leaders and survivors of abuse, says it has “significant concerns” about the government’s failure to act on the proposals chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in 2022
The investigation is back in the spotlight after the Tory party backed the tech billionaire’s calls Elon Musk establish a a new national inquiry into gang grooming, voted in parliament on Wednesday night.
In a letter sent to the Minister of the Interior and shared with The Independent, The coalition – known as IICSA Changemakers, which includes the Council of National Police Chiefs, the National Association of Headmasters and the Muslim Council of Great Britain – said that despite renewed interest in tackling widespread sexual abuse, “survivors are once again being talked about and on behalf of, and nobody he doesn’t listen to what is needed”.
Sheanna Patelmaster, 29, a surviving member of the group, said ministers should step back from “partisan fighting”, adding: “There is a lot that both sides could and should be doing that they are not”.
The letter criticizes the slowness of acting on the recommendations of Prof Alexis Jay in its report on child sexual abuse.
A key recommendation in the report was that the government introduce a “national guarantee” that child victims of sexual abuse will be offered specialist therapeutic support and that these services will be fully funded.
Professor Jay also called on the minister for children at government level to ensure that their welfare is a government priority.
In his letter to Yvette Cooper the coalition voiced its concern in the voice of one member, who is a survivor of child sexual abuse and cannot be identified.
Survivors have said they have been left “feeling hollow” by the renewed debate over child sexual abuse in the UK.
It added that there had been “no movement to increase or make specific support services available to those who were sexually abused as a child [which remains a key recommendation from IICSA]”. This was despite Ms Cooper announcing this week that reporting of abuse would become mandatory, that grooming would become an aggravating factor in sentencing, and that a single data set on abuse and child protection would be established.
The letter continued: “There has been no announcement that those who have experienced child sexual abuse will have more representation in government. I’m just not sure we’re actually any further.”
The survivor concluded: “I feel like a survivor, who is once again being talked about and on their behalf, without anyone listening to what is needed.”
The group was founded after the publication of the report by Prof. Jaya. Other organizations in the coalition include children’s charity the NSPCC, which helped coordinate the letter, the Internet Watch Foundation, the Methodist Church, Rape Crisis and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health.
Ms Patelmaster said Professor Jay’s seven-year investigation had already “provided some real solutions, but nothing has changed”.
Ms Patelmaster, who spoke out about abuse when she was a junior member of the Girl Scouts, claimed the situation in the UK was “probably less safe now because of cuts to local services”. She called for child sexual abuse support services to be implemented through the NHS and adequately funded by the government.
“The sooner you step in to help the survivors, the better.” “If you don’t help people deal with what happened to them as children, then the problems spread, affect those around them, and the costs of dealing with the affects are much higher,” she said.
Mrs. Patelmaster said she didn’t feel it a new investigation into the grooming gang would be helpful. “We know what the solutions are and we need to work across governments to fix it,” she said.
Ms Cooper told MPs on Monday that “too little has been done” to tackle child sexual abuse despite multiple inquiries making recommendations in the wake of the gang scandal.
A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is focused on delivering meaningful change for victims affected by these horrific crimes and has wasted no time working through the Independent Inquiry into child sexual abuse recommendations and their implementation.
“The Minister for Protection has already worked with victims, survivors and the Changemakers group. We look forward to continued engagement as we move forward with change.”