Do more to protect girls from grooming, says NSPCC
New figures show girls were the victims in more than 4 in 5 grooming offences in Dorset
Last updated 13th Oct 2021
More must be done to protect girls online, the NSPCC has said, as new data shows girls are the victim in the vast majority of grooming offences in Dorset.
Figures collected by the charity show that between July 2020 and March 2021, Dorset Police recorded 62 offences in which an adult engaged in sexual communication with a child under 17 – a crime more commonly known as grooming.
The victim’s gender was recorded in 52 of those offences – 44 victims were girls (84%), compared to 8 boys.
The data was obtained by the NSPCC from 43 UK police forces via a Freedom of Information request.
NSPCC: Govt must strengthen Online Safety Bill
The NSPCC is now calling on new Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries to strengthen proposals in the draft Online Safety Bill to ensure girls are properly protected from online sexual abuse nationally.
Anna Edmundson, the charity’s Head of Policy, said: ‘Any child can be a victim of online sexual abuse but the sheer number of girls being targeted is both alarming and a reminder of the failure of platforms to effectively protect their young users.
‘One of the primary functions of the Online Safety Bill is to keep all children – including girls – safe when they go online.
‘Now, the new Culture Secretary has the opportunity to fix the substantive weaknesses in the legislation so it does just that.’
Sexual communication with a child under 16 has been a crime in England and Wales since 2017.
Although the crime can be also be committed in-person or via text message, the NSPCC estimates more than 95% of grooming offences are done using the internet.
Across England and Wales, there were 12,944 recorded offences where the gender was known between April 2017 and March 2021, with 10,722 (83%) of those recording the victim as female.
Government: new laws are world's 'most comprehensive'
Off the back of the figures, the NSPCC is calling on the Government to act to ensure it lives up to its previously stated ambition of making the UK the safest place in the world for a child to be online.
It said the Online Safety Bill, currently being examined by MPs and peers, must be strengthened to stop grooming and abuse spreading between apps, disrupt abuse at the earliest possible stage and hold senior managers to account.
The Government has said it was up to social media companies to clamp down on child abuse content and prevent young people from being groomed.
A spokesperson for the government claimed the new laws will be ‘the most comprehensive in the world in protecting children online.
‘Failing firms will face hefty fines or have their sites blocked, and we will have the power to make senior managers criminally liable for failing to protect children.’