MP Sarah Champion backs Sajid Javid's call for web giants to up game on child abuse

Speaking at the HQ of Childline in London, Sajid Javid announced a number of measures, including new powers for police to tackle online abuse and grooming and additional funding for forces and the National Crime Agency.

Mr Javid outlined the scale of the problem, with 15 per cent of girls and five per cent of boys experiencing some form of sexual abuse before the age of 16. 

He promised an extra £21.5 million investment in law enforcement over the next 18 months, most of which will go to police and intelligence agencies to tackle the most tech-savvy and dedicated abusers.

He went on to state on Monday that keeping children safe was his priority “regardless of cultural or political sensitivities”. 

Ms Champion (pictured), MP for Rotherham, said: “The home secretary’s commitment to prevent child abuse on and offline is most welcome, as is his pledge to provide an additional £21 million to the police for enforcement.

“Part of the approach to prevent abuse must be a public awareness campaign to recognise the signs, especially online. 

“Most parents grew up pre-social media and therefore are often not aware of the challenges, risks and exploitation their children face online.

“It is right that the home secretary focused on the role of internet companies in preventing abuse on their platforms. 

“Online abuse is escalating at an alarming rate and operates internationally. 

“Tech companies must take responsibility, just as they are beginning to in relation to terrorism. 

“I am, however, frustrated the home secretary didn’t focus more on support for victims and survivors. 

“Lives are devastated by child abuse and early intervention would make a huge difference.”

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said in its annual report earlier this year that it had discovered or reported 78,000 web pages confirmed as containing child abuse imagery, each of which can contain thousands of images.

The use of disguised websites containing abuse images had almost doubled, the watchdog found.

We reported last month how the IWF had found that many parents left young children alone to surf the net unsupervised.