Maria Miller urges PM to make tackling child sexual abuse Government priority
The Prime Minister has been urged to make it his Government’s priority to protect children from sexual abuse.
During PMQs, former Tory cabinet minister Maria Miller, who was chair of the Commons women and equalities select committee in the last Parliament, said online social media giants need to do more to prevent children being exploited.
Boris Johnson told MPs the issue of child sexual exploitation was discussed by the Cabinet on Tuesday.
It comes as a damning report, also published on Tuesday, revealed senior Greater Manchester Police officers and senior officials at Manchester City Council, failed to intervene to stop abuse against children by grooming gangs in the 2000s.
Speaking in the Commons, Ms Miller (pictured) said: “Child sexual abuse is not a thing of the past in this country.
“Last year over 4,000 offences of online child abuse were recorded by the police involving organisations like Facebook and Instagram who find it easy to analyse our online shopping habits but less easy to keep children safe.
“Can my right honourable friend say how the Government will continue to make it its priority to protect children from sexual abuse online?”
Responding, Mr Johnson said: “We are indeed very concerned about what is happening online.
“The Cabinet discussed it yesterday.
“The online harms white paper sets out our plans to make companies more responsible but we will be taking further action in the near future to stamp out this vice.”
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