Written question asked by Margaret Moran (Labour) on Tuesday, 10 July 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 12 July 2007. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Wednesday, 18 July 2007 on behalf of the Home Office.

Children: Internet

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) internet service providers, (b) social networking sites and (c) other IT companies have adapted the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre’s report abuse mechanism.

Answer: The Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, which was launched in April 2006, works across the UK and maximises international links to deliver a holistic approach to tackling child sex abuse wherever and whenever it happens, in particular, from those who use the internet and other new technologies in the sexual exploitation of children. It combines police powers with the dedicated expertise of business sectors, government, specialist charities and other interested organisations.CEOP Centre’s report abuse mechanism allows members of the public to report potentially illegal activity (such as allegations of sexual grooming) direct to law enforcement. To date, over 750,000 children across the UK have been educated on how to use this reporting mechanism. The Home Secretary’s Task Force has set up a working group which includes representatives from social network providers, CEOP and children’s charities, to look at the range of safety issues for children caused by the development and growth of social networking sites and develop good practice guidelines. We hope to publish this soon. One of the key areas under discussion is the means by which the public can make reports about potentially illegal activity to CEOP when they are online. One of the largest providers of Instant Messaging (IM) services in the UK has embedded the report abuse mechanism into its IM.

Secondary information