More than 13,000 online child sex offences while promised safety bill sat in limbo, research suggests
More than 13,000 online child sex offences will have been recorded while the government’s flagship internet safety legislation sat in limbo over the summer, new research has suggested.
The Online Safety Bill was due to return to parliament today after being pushed back from July – and more than 100 grooming and other such crimes are likely being registered by police each day in the meantime, the NSPCC says.
But the bill coming back before MPs has been delayed further following the latest Tory leadership crisis, which saw Rishi Sunak installed as the new prime minister last week.
The government has since refused to commit to a new timetable.
The NSPCC said the “crucial” legislation should be treated “as a priority”.
Chief executive Sir Peter Wanless said: “There is overwhelming public consensus for the crucial legislation to be bought back as a priority and with strengthened protections for children, so they are systemically and comprehensively safe from harm and abuse for years to come.”
A Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport spokesperson told Sky News: “Protecting children and stamping out illegal activity online is a top priority for the government, and we will bring the Online Safety Bill back to parliament as soon as possible.”
What is the Online Safety Bill?
The legislation was a key part of the Conservative Party’s 2019 election manifesto, with the former culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, vowing to get tough on tech firms.
Addressing parliament last year, she threatened social media bosses with swift criminal prosecution if they failed to “remove your harmful algorithms today”.
Under the original proposals, tech companies would have two years after the passage of the bill to prepare for the changes.
Opposition to the plan was focused on the vague definition of “online harm”, with critics suggesting it would give the DCMS too much power to dictate internet discourse.
That debate has been brought to the fore by Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, as he appears keen to loosen content moderation rules, despite growing pressure from governments to do the opposite.
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‘We have to take advantage of this moment’
Victim’s emotional plea to PM
Nearly 50,000 people have signed a petition calling on Mr Sunak to get the Online Safety Bill passed.
The campaign includes a letter from a victim who was groomed and abused online from the age of 11.
“Unregulated online spaces meant my abuser could use several platforms to groom, abuse, and manipulate me without ever having to leave his home,” they wrote.
“Online grooming by its very nature is intense and deceptive, and it took me a long time to realise that what happened to me was not my fault.
“Sadly, too many children are still going through the same thing I did.
“They are still not safe from grooming and sexual abuse online.
“But you can change this.
“You have the power to stop this happening to other young people.”
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‘Thank you Molly, for being my daughter’
‘We’re endangering young people’
It comes after the father of teenager Molly Russell, who took her own life aged 14 after viewing content related to self-harm and suicide on social media, warned further delays to the bill would endanger young people.
“If we wait around and chase perfection, we’re endangering young people in particular, who are exposed to harmful content,” he told The Guardian last month.
The current culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, has insisted the bill is her top priority.
The NSPCC cited Home Office police data for its analysis, based on the total number of online child abuse cases recorded in England and Wales in 2021/22.
Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.
Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.
The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.
Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”
Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.
CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.
Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.
The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.
Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.
CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”
Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics.
We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.
“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.
It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.
Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.
But there is a new concept in town.
From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.
A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.
Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.
One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.
Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.
The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.
There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.
Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
There are eight bays users can inject in
We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.
The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.
The aftercare area
Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’
Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.
The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.
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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.
One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.
The question is what does success look like?
The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.
It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.
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