News – Mandate Now

Index of News Articles

UPDATE: 14 May 2022. Like buses arriving four at a time we have updated our proposal for the introduction mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse for the fourth time is as many months. This latest draft differs in one respect to its predecessor. Reluctantly we have removed vulnerable adults from our legislative proposal. In summary our final version mandates prescribed personnel who work in ‘Regulated Activities’ to report known and suspected child sexual abuse to specified agencies. Protection against ‘detriment’ for mandated reporters is of course retained.

For the assistance of readers, here is a fast track link to our submission to the ‘Reporting and acting on child abuse and neglect’ (2016) consultation which includes our original legislative proposals, a forerunner of which assisted Baroness Walmsley secure the consultation.

Index of News Articles

14.5.22 Mandate Now has updated its legislative proposal to: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse only	14/05/2022
Mandate Now has updated its legislative proposal to: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse only	06/04/2022
‘Detriment’ can be experienced by staff who report child abuse. Our updated legislative proposal addresses it	28/02/2022
HoC Briefing Paper \| ‘Child Protection: duties to report concerns’ \| Our critical review of a flawed document	26/10/2021
Here are the 779 submissions made to the 2016 ‘Reporting and Acting on Child Abuse and Neglect’ consultation. Councils, Royal College’s healthcare, education, faith, NGO’s and similar	31/01/2020
The hope offered in the Home Secs Statement to HoC on 4/2/15 has been replaced by a bunker mindset at IICSA	30/10/2015
Yvette Cooper calls for change to law after abuse scandal	30/08/2014
House of Lords 28.10.14 \| Serious Crimes Bill Amendment 43 [ Mandatory Reporting ] – Report 2nd Day	29/10/2014
Surrey Police Operation Outreach Report – Activities of Savile at Duncroft School \| At least 22 Pupils Abused	29/04/2015
It’s inconceivable IICSA will not recommend well-designed Mandatory Reporting. But must we wait until 2021?	28/12/2019
CSAInquiry : INDEPENDENT PANEL INQUIRY INTO CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE \| Panel Statement \| November 26 2014	28/11/2014
Sir Keir Starmer former DPP – “the case for mandatory reporting of #CSA is now overwhelming”	28/08/2014
Abuse in Football – that sofa on VictoriaLIVE and the positive impact It could have on safeguarding	27/11/2016
Stanbridge Earls School: the saga continues. Ofsted got it repeatedly wrong, now the Charity Commission. Who next?	27/10/2015
Mandate Now Submission to Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse – #MRseminar (1) 27/9/18	27/09/2018
Department of Health Report (Savile) Kate Lampard	27/06/2014
Recent Coverage Media Contributions around The Disappointing DoH Lampard Review Published on 26/2/15	27/02/2015
Lawn Tennis Association Safeguarding remains dysfunctional	27/01/2019
NSPCC – ‘The Dog Ate My Transcript’: the very odd occurrences following a debate on #MandatoryReporting	27/01/2015
Hear no evil, see no evil: observations on a paper presented by Prof Munro and Dr Fish to CA Royal Commission	26/10/2015
House of Lords 28.10.14 \| Serious Crimes Bill Amendment 43 [ Mandatory Reporting ] – Report 2nd Day	26/10/2014
Review of Option 2 of MR Consult: Introduce a Mandatory Reporting Duty in Relation to Child Abuse	26/09/2016
Department of Health release the report by Lampard – BBC interview (Savile abuses)	26/06/2014
Alternative Perspective on NSPCC – closing ‘Loopholes in Sport’ VictoriaLIVE 26.1.17	26/01/2017
Mandate Now Review of : Summary of consultation responses and Government action following #MRconsult	25/09/2018
Cardinal Vincent Nichols r4Sunday 21/4/19. Child abuse – a straight answer to a straight question is outside the Cardinal’s repertoire	25/04/2019
Update – IICSA / CA Royal Comm data comparison	24/12/2018
The Impending Mandatory Reporting Consultation; the dynamics RA abuse and NSPCC understanding of it	24/10/2015
Mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse are essential for kids and society: Professor Ben Mathews	24/03/2017
Tom Watson MP questions Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove about Mandatory Reporting	24/03/2014
Michael Gove : ‘Victim of abuse made a ‘compelling’ case for mandatory reporting’	24/03/2014
No Reliance can be Placed on a Report Used by Academics and others to Dismiss Mandatory Reporting – here’s why	23/11/2015
MandateNow response to an @Barnardos statement on Mandatory Reporting of 18th September 2014	23/09/2014
Spectator article Against Mandatory Reporting: A Blizzard of Ill-informed Comment	23/06/2016
HoC debate on NC 17 Opposition Amendment to introduce alleged #MandatoryReporting	23/02/2015
Two research papers on #MRCA by Dr Ben Mathews of QUT with one stemming from @CARoyalComm Australia \| #CSAinquiry	22/11/2014
Letter to IICSA from multiple signatories following the presentation by the Department for Education to the MR Seminar (1) 27.9.18	22/10/2018
Remaining silent about child abuse can’t be an option – Times Scotland 21.9.19	22/08/2019
How much does Barnardo’s really care for vulnerable children? \| Why did it sign an Independent Advocacy Contract with the Youth Justice Board at Medway in which it agreed to not refer child protection concerns to Local Authority?	22/02/2019
The Labour #MR amendment to the Serious Crimes Bill is debated tomorrow. @SkyNews interview	22/02/2015
Mothers of Prevention \| Organised Child Sexual Exploitation – Sunday Times Magazine 30/9/07 by Julie Bindel	21/08/2018
Review of : “The Scale and nature of child abuse” by The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse \| Its value is limited	21/07/2021
#MR Bill Underway for USA Athletes following Senate Hearing and Grey-Thompson Now Wants It	21/04/2017
The cut n’ paste safeguarding policy at Crewe Alexandra Football Club needs to be scrapped. Here’s why	21/03/2019
The Labour opposition amendment to the Serious Crimes Bill designed to allegedly introduce #MandatoryReporting – Doesn’t.	21/02/2015
BBC Child Protection Policy. Perfectly Legal but Useless	21/01/2016
Mandate Now and NSPCC met on 29/6/15 to explore our Contrasting Positions on Mandatory Reporting	20/07/2015
Key Speeches from HoL Debate 15.12.16 : Allegations of child sexual abuse within football clubs	19/12/2016
Where is the MR seminar IICSA? A letter sent 19/4/18 from lawyers acting for Core Participant abusees to Professor Jay	19/04/2018
The Chair of the National Safeguarding Panel @churchofengland attempting to sell a counterfeit suggestion that mandatory reporting exists within the Church.	19/03/2019
Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse: Malcolm Underhill Speaks to Tom Perry of Mandate Now	19/01/2016
Letter from Mandate Now to the @UKHomeOffice 7/2/15 regarding the ToRs and Scope of the #CSAinquiry	18/02/2015
CEOP Thematic Assessment The Foundations of Abuse: A thematic assessment of the risk of CSA by adults in institutions	16/10/2013
Addenbrooke’s Hospital – Dr Myles Bradbury	16/09/2014
Article in Community Care Magazine about Mandatory Reporting and the Whereabouts of the Consultation	16/07/2016
A Lengthening List of Independent Schools Confused over Child Protection	16/03/2016
‘The Church has some form of Mandatory Reporting’ (Peter Hancock – Lead Bishop for Safeguarding) \| “Oh no it hasn’t!”	16/01/2020
Confused Football Association safeguarding policy fails children	15/12/2016
The Whyte Review – some considerations	15/10/2020
Where is the outcome of the Consultation – Reporting and Acting on Child Abuse and Neglect	15/09/2017
SERIOUS CRIMES BILL 3rd Day	15/07/2014
IICSA Seminar 12.04.17 was Misinformed About Mandatory Reporting by UCLAN Assessment	15/05/2017
Govt Secures NSPCC Support for Child Protection Proposal Designed to Fail	14/11/2016
Still no reliance can be placed on Stoke Mandeville Child Protection Procedures despite #Savile + Salmon #CSAinquiry	14/02/2015
MandateNow response to @NSPCC July policy briefing: Strengthening duties on professionals to report child abuse	13/09/2014
Is safeguarding in sport fit for purpose? Our written submission to the House of Lords Sport and Recreation Committee	13/06/2021
Victims and Survivors Consultative Panel (VSCP) – what is it for?	13/04/2015
NSPCC Whistling Home Office Tune to Child Protection Inertia	13/02/2015
The Mandate Now Response to: NSPCC policy position against Mandatory Reporting	13/01/2014
NSPCC Statement about Mandatory Reporting on the r4Today programme	13/01/2014
Boarding Schools’ Association says it wants Mandatory Reporting. (as long as it doesn’t work)	08/05/2021
Home Office: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2021 \| No strategy, few proposals and little money	05/10/2021
Scotland : Child abuse victims are still going undetected \|\| Yet Scottish academics still mistakenly reject mandatory reporting	11/11/2020
Mandate Now observations on Law in Sport article about mandatory reporting for sport	03/08/2020
IICSA Anglican Hearing 3/7/19 – Observation about the work being undertaken by the Social Care Institute of Excellence for the Church of England	10/07/2019
The Disclosure and Barring Service isn’t working reliably. How are unmade ‘mandatory’ referrals to the DBS discovered?	10/06/2019
Top 10 Myths About Clergy Abuse in the Catholic Church (Psychology Today) 1/8/19 and a reply from Tim Lennon the President of SNAP	04/08/2019
Oral question 1. HoL 10/9/18 : Report of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse regarding safeguarding failures at Downside and Ampleforth schools	11/09/2018
Mysterious Omissions from the IICSA Report into Ampleforth and Downside	10/08/2018
Mandatory Reporting Consultation : Government decides on costly retention of the failing status quo	06/03/2018
Church of England Safeguarding is Dysfunctional and Can Have No Reliance Placed Upon It \| A Review by Mandate Now	02/03/2018
Child Protection in Football – An article in The Independent reliant on hearsay and hope	06/03/2017
IICSA Chair responds to stinging Times article with a flurry of meaningless statistics	03/11/2017
Australian Royal Commission data comparison with Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse	03/11/2017
Bishop of Bath + Wells Faces a Morton’s Fork over MR. CofE Imagineers Attempt to Conceal ‘U’ Turn	02/05/2017
West Berks SCB – The Unconvincing Serious Case Review into Child Sexual Abuse at Kennet School	01/02/2017
Consultation on mandatory reporting of child abuse ‘has been buried’ \| Observer 4.09.16	09/09/2016
Mandatory Reporting of Known and Suspected Abuse: Guardian and Observer Articles June 2016	08/06/2016
A Review of: MR law on reporting and identification of CSA: A seven year time trend analysis	08/06/2016
Are These the Official Spokespeople for IICSA?	07/09/2016
Mandate Now Submission to Consultation: Reporting and Acting on Child Abuse and Neglect	06/10/2016
Labour Party Submission to MRconsult. Good Objectives but Muddled Thinking	05/12/2016
Signs the Government is increasingly panicked over calls for the introduction of Mandatory Reporting – #FAabuse	04/12/2016
Mandatory reporting laws for child sexual abuse are essential for kids and society: Professor Ben Mathews	03/09/2016
New Research: Impact of Mandatory Reporting Law : A Seven year Longitudinal Analysis	03/05/2016
MN Response to Option 3 of MR Consult: Duty to Act in relation to child abuse and neglect	02/10/2016
Mandate Now: Putting the spotlight on UK child abuse	01/02/2016
Letters in Support of Bishop Peter Ball Make Extraordinary Reading. Here in Full	01/01/2016
Regulated Activities are petri dishes for abuse – Mandate Now on preventing child abuse scandals	09/03/2015
Prime Ministers reaction to Oxford #CSE report – law for Wilful Neglect. It’s inadequate as #MN explains on #bbcpm	03/03/2015
More than 200,000 people call for mandatory reporting of child abuse.	02/12/2015
Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect	02/06/2015
Successive Govts Flee Mandatory Reporting on the Mistaken Grounds of Cost	02/03/2015
The civil service dominated #IICSA : still not communicating despite representations	01/10/2015
Child abuse needs mandatory reporting to create a high-risk environment for paedophiles: Independent March 2015	01/03/2015
Whatever happened to the @NSPCC? It wanted to talk, then on receiving the draft agenda fell silent.	12/07/2014
Cheryl Gillan MP secures a meeting with for MandateNow with Michael Gove	10/02/2014
Iain Dale @LBC to Harriet Harman: would you back a statutory inquiry? Erm ….. She then adopts the flawed Home Office position	09/12/2014
Queens Speech debate House of Lords 3rd Day - Mandatory Reporting	09/06/2014
Baroness Walmsley in her debate on : Children and Vulnerable Adult Abuse	08/07/2014
Ian Lee of BBC Three Counties Radio discusses the Wright trial (Caldicott School) with Tom Perry	07/02/2014
MandateNow speaks with James O’Brien of @LBC Mandatory Reporting, child protection, and the state of the #CSAinquiry	06/11/2014
Caldicott School - Trials and Outcomes	06/02/2014
This is probably the most difficult speech I have ever made \| Tackling Child Abuse \| Best speech LD Conference 2015	05/10/2014
Baroness Walmsley’s Policy debate for introduction of Mandatory Reporting is approved at Lib Dem Conference	05/10/2014
Cheryl Gillan MP (C) – Today raised key questions about #CSAinquiry in Topical Questions to the Leader of the House	04/12/2014
Debate on the Address – [1st day] \| Cheryl Gillan MP – Mandatory Reporting	04/06/2014
HMIC’s review into allegations and intelligence material concerning Jimmy Savile 1964 and 2012	11/03/2013
Home Affairs Committee: CSE and the response to localised grooming	10/06/2013

May 14th, 2022|

14.5.22 Our updated legislative proposal for: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse only

Several times in recent months we have updated our draft legislation for the introduction Mandatory Reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse by personnel working in Regulated Activities. Mandatory Reporting legislation is long overdue in England and Wales. We are out of step with the majority of jurisdictions in the rest of the world, 82% of which have some form of Mandatory Reporting.

Download our current legislative proposal here

IICSA will release its final report later this year. As we have stated previously we consider it inconceivable that the inquiry will fail to recommend well-designed Mandatory Reporting. The evidence demonstrates it’s a vital component of functioning safeguarding.

The law mandates Regulated Activity personnel to report known or suspected child sexual abuse on reasonable grounds while simultaneously protecting the reporter from detriment.

May 14th, 2022|

Mandate Now has updated its legislative proposal to: mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse only

Mandate Now is an evidence led pressure group. For sometime we have been aware of the attendant risks of including physical abuse and neglect in our legislative objectives. Without evidence that clearly demonstrates physical abuse and neglect are positively addressed by the introduction of law, we have amended our objectives to mandatory reporting of suspected and known child sexual abuse only. The depth of evidence supporting the introduction of well-designed law applied to prescribed ‘Regulated Activities’ is significant. The key extract in our updated legislative proposal is here :

The revised proposal is here in full

Our submission to IICSA of 27.9.18 in advance of the MR seminars, revealed the direction of travel which today is crystallised in this update.

April 6th, 2022|

‘Detriment’ can be experienced by staff who report child abuse. Our updated legislative proposal for Mandatory Reporting addresses it.

From evidence given to IICSA , the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, the Hart Inquiry and the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry, it is apparent that personnel working in Regulated Activities who do the right thing and adhere to discretionary ‘guidance’ and in some cases professional ‘expectation’ to report known or suspected child sexual abuse, often do so at great personal cost. We have heard of reporters being bullied, alienated from work colleagues, isolated and often forced out of the workplace through a variety of means including constructive dismissal.

To address this practice we took legal and academic advice and have updated our legislative proposal for the introduction of well-designed Mandatory Reporting by those employed in Regulated Activities such as teachers, sports coaches, clergy, healthcare personnel and many more.

The revised draft legislation can now be downloaded here.

For quick reference there are three new clauses to address ‘detriment’ which we feature below :

With mandated reporting of defined concerns supplemented by protection from ‘detriment’, our proposed legislation would put England and Wales on a par with the majority of jurisdictions in the rest of the world.

February 28th, 2022|

HoC Briefing Paper | ‘Child Protection: duties to report concerns’ | Our critical review of a flawed document

HoC Library asserts it’s a politically impartial research and information service for MPs and their staff. Yet serious questions arise with this briefing paper because it is based on incomplete research which omits evidence from other jurisdictions. These omissions cause the paper to provide an unintentionally misleading picture of this important subject.

Our review is here

October 26th, 2021|

Home Office: Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Strategy 2021 | No strategy, few proposals and little money

A claim repeated by Home Secretaries of all stripes

The critique uses our default two column format to highlight the many shortcomings in this ‘strategy’ document. It has the appearance of having been designed to assist government minimise/dismiss any meaningful recommendations IICSA might make in its final report, the big ticket item being mandatory reporting, This is expected in 2022.

Our critique is available here

October 5th, 2021|

Review of : “The Scale and nature of child abuse” by The Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse | Its value is limited

Before commenting on the report which was released on 9^th June 2021, it is necessary to make you aware that the ‘Centre of expertise on child sexual abuse’ is entirely funded by the Home Office which is trenchantly against the introduction of well-designed mandatory reporting of known and suspected child sexual abuse by those working in Regulated Activities (“RA”).

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July 21st, 2021|

Is safeguarding in sport fit for purpose? Our written submission to the House of Lords Sport and Recreation Committee

Our now published written evidence dated 24 May 2021 is available here for download.

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June 13th, 2021|

Boarding Schools’ Association says it wants Mandatory Reporting | (as long as it doesn’t work)

In recent weeks the Sunday Times has run a series of articles about non-recent sexual and physical abuse in boarding schools. The articles stemmed from Louis de Bernières going public about the abusive time he had while a pupil at Grenham House in Birchington, Kent.

Here’s the first article, the second and the most recent from 02.05.21 is below: