Government news and campaigns

Greater protections for child strip search

The government is proposing a number of measures to strengthen protections in place for children and vulnerable people subject to a strip search that involves the exposure of intimate parts prior to arrest, as well as following detention.  

The changes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Codes of Practice A and C, which the government is seeking views on, include proposals that would require a senior officer, of the rank of inspector or above, to authorise any search of a child or vulnerable person is strip searched. This will apply to stop and search and searches in custody.

Read more about this here.

Hate preachers and extremists banned from the UK

A new taskforce has been set up as part of government action to clamp down on hate and protect the British public. Spanning expertise from the Home Office, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the taskforce will identify prominent extremists overseas who could pose a risk to public safety in the UK. Read more on this here.

Modern slavery statement registry updated

The modern slavery statement registry has been updated to encourage UK companies to help the government’s efforts to tackle this barbaric crime.

The changes will encourage businesses to upload their annual modern slavery statements in a timely way and support them to publish robust statements. Read more on this here.

NCA issues urgent warning about ‘sextortion’

The National Crime Agency has issued an alert to hundreds of thousands of education professionals following a considerable increase in global cases of financially motivated sexual extortion – a type of online blackmail widely known as ‘sextortion’.

Sextortion involves people being forced into paying money or meeting another financial demand, after an offender has threatened to release nude or semi-nude photos of them. This could be a real photo taken by the victim, or a fake image created of them by the offender.

Specialists from the NCA’s CEOP Education team have produced the alert, which was issued to teachers across the UK today (Monday 29 April).

Read more about the alert here.

Campaign Materials   
      
The government is running several campaigns. We would be grateful if you could share campaign materials and messaging on your channels, and with your networks.

Stop! Think Fraud is a major national campaign to fight fraud, encouraging the public to take a moment to stop, think and check whenever receiving an alert that may be fraudulent, and to help protect ourselves and each other from fraud.

This evidence led campaign draws on the expertise of leading counter-fraud experts and includes an online fraud hub which will provide concise, simple to follow advice. It will also signpost victims to relevant organisations for further advice and support.

ENOUGH. aims to challenge perpetrators and raise awareness of what we can all do to safely call out abuse. Please find attached a partner pack which includes more information on the campaign, and materials which you can share on your channels.   

NSPCC Helpline encourages adults to reach out with concerns of child sexual abuse. The service is free for anyone who has concerns about a child or young person. Please find campaign films for professionals, and the general public.

End-to-End Encryption campaign calling directly on Meta not to roll out end-to-end encryption on its platforms without robust safety measures that ensure children are protected from sexual abuse and exploitation in messaging channels. Click here for the IWF parent guide.

Stop Abuse Together aims to empower parents and carers to take steps to help keep the children in their life safe. All children have a right to be safe from sexual abuse, and we all have a role to play in keeping them safe. Let’s #StopAbuseTogether

Victims of Terrorism provides information on where to seek advice and assistance following a terrorist incident.

Stakeholder campaigns

Resolve – ASB Awareness Week 2024

Resolve’s ASB Awareness Week will return for 2024 between the 1st – 7th July! The week’s theme is #MakingCommunitiesSafer. Along with a week of action, it will include a digital summit hosting webinars from the 1^st to the 5^th.

Every day will have a different focus as follows:

• Monday – Partnership Day
• Tuesday – Victims’ Day
• Wednesday – ‘Let’s Talk ASB’ Day
• Thursday – Community Heroes Day
• Friday – Young Person’s Day
• Saturday – ASB and Health
• Sunday – Community Action Day

Call for case studies!

Resolve would like to hear from you if you have any ASB related case studies as they may be used as part of the campaign and promoted as national best practice.

Please send in any case studies related to:

• Young people and ASB
• Health and ASB (including mental health)
• Multi-agency partnership
• A time you/your team have been effective in responding to anti-social behaviour

Please send them by email to: [email protected]. Visit Resolve’s website to find out more information and how you can support the week of action: ASB Awareness Week – Resolve (resolveuk.org.uk).

Text redaction software sessions

Following a Home Office funded project, PDS went to market for a framework for text redaction software which has now transferred to BlueLight Commercial as the national commercial body for policing.

For any police colleagues who are interested in learning more about the new text redaction software, there will be sessions taking place on Wednesday 15^th May between 9:10am – 11:30am.

To register your interest, please complete this online form. For any queries about the sessions of the text redaction framework, please contact [email protected].

NCET Engagement

The Home Office National Community Engagement Team (NCET) works locally and nationally, to build relationships between Immigration Enforcement and communities. It aims to keep communities informed, engaged, and involved, and to establish trust via transparency and listening to community voices.

The team delivers events and immigration surgeries and other events on a regular basis which provides information and signposting at various community settings.

If you would like to learn more about the activities of the NCET in your areas or more broadly, which may benefit you or your networks, please contact: Joe Shirley, Assistant Director, National Community Engagement Team, Email:  [email protected]

Women’s Aid service for professionals

Women’s Aid is running a dedicated service for professionals who are currently working with survivors of domestic abuse, seeking refuge accommodation and support. This could include housing officers, police officers, social workers, health workers, probation officers and those working in education or the voluntary sector. We understand that it can be difficult to support survivors of domestic abuse without the ability to access specialist resources. The professionals’ service can provide dedicated support, information about safety planning, referral pathways or up-to-date refuge vacancies in a certain area, or other local specialist support, such as outreach, drop-ins, counselling services and advocacy projects. 

Find more information here.

Guide to Meaningful Survivor Engagement

Women’s Aid Federations and Imkaan have launched a joint best practice guide on survivor engagement. Whilst there can be no ‘one size fits all’ approach to this critical work, they hope this guide will help others to listen to the experiences of survivors, hear their voices and understand their perspectives in a deeper and more meaningful way. This follows three years of work spent developing their approach to enabling diverse survivors of domestic abuse and other forms of violence against women and girls (VAWG) to have increased opportunities to influence local practice, policy and national decision-making.

The guide is intended for anyone in the VAWG sector who would like to begin or develop adult survivor engagement in their work, and we hope you find it useful. Please find the guide here: – Final: A guide to meaningful survivor engagement (womensaid.org.uk) 

Upcoming campaigns

If your organisation has any upcoming surveys or campaigns that you would like us to highlight in our newsletter, please get in touch with the External Affairs team at [email protected]