Government news and campaigns

Tech execs to face sanctions for failing to curb knife content

To combat the unacceptable use of social media and online marketplaces to market illegal weapons and glorify violence, senior executives of social media companies will face personal fines if they fail to remove illegal content swiftly.

In a consultation published on Wednesday (13 November), proposals include giving police the power to issue notices to senior executives of online companies, ordering them to remove specific pieces of content, potentially within two days. If the company fails to act on this, the police will send a second notice to the senior executive in that company, who would then be personally liable for a significant fine if they too fail to act.

This is the latest step to meet the government’s pledge to halve knife crime over the next decade.

Read more here.

New failure to prevent fraud guidance published

Last week, the government published guidance that will provide organisations with important advice on the new corporate criminal offence of ‘failure to prevent fraud’, helping make sure they are taking action to prevent fraud.

Introduced last year as part of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act (ECCT), the offence is intended to hold large organisations to account if they profit from fraud.

Read more here.

Three members appointed to the Independent Family Returns Panel

The Home Office has appointed 3 new members to the Independent Family Returns Panel for a 3 year period from 1 June 2024.

The appointments were made in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

Read more here.

Stakeholder campaigns

Resolve – Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) Awareness week: 18 – 24 November 2024 

Resolve run ASB Awareness week and the overarching theme and hashtag for the week is #MakingCommunitiesSafer. This years’ daily themes are:

• Monday 18th – Partnership Day
• Tuesday 19th – Victims Day
• Wednesday 20th – “Let’s Talk ASB” Day
• Thursday 21st – Community Heroes Day
• Friday 22nd – Young People’s Day
• Sat 23rd – ASB and Health Day
• Sun 24th – Community Action Day

You can find out more information on Resolve’s website ASB Awareness Week – Resolve – Antisocial Behaviour (resolveuk.org.uk) with links to media packs and information on how you can get involved in the week. 

Resolve are also running a series of webinars during the week to share best practice and ideas.  You can find out more information here: https://www.resolveuk.org.uk/resolve-summit-2024 and sign up for the daily webinars.

• Monday 18th: https://bit.ly/partnership-day      
• Tuesday 19th: https://bit.ly/victims-day
• Wednesday 20th: https://bit.ly/lets-talk-asb
• Thursday 21st: https://bit.ly/asb-mental-health
• Friday 22nd: https://bit.ly/young-people-asb 

Stop! Think Fraud

As part of the Stop! Think Fraud campaign the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) are launching a nationwide campaign on Monday 18 November, which promotes 2-step verification (2SV, also known as 2FA) to help people secure their online accounts against fraud and cyber threats during the peak festive shopping season. 2SV gives your email an extra level of protection, and means even if a criminal knows your password, they still won’t be able to access it.

Find out more about the campaign, and how you could support here. (Please do not share any materials until the embargo lifts at 0001 Monday 18 November.)

White Ribbon Day

25th November is White Ribbon Day, annually recognised as the day men show their year-long commitment to preventing violence against women and girls. This year, White Ribbon Day is focused on ‘It Starts with Men’, calling on men to hold themselves accountable to women, and to each other, so we can affect positive behaviour change to transform harmful cultures. Violence against women and girls is rooted in harmful masculine norms. Starting with men, we must address the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to a fear of violence for women in their day-to-day lives.

To show your support on White Ribbon Day and allyship to women and girls every day of the year:

• Download our resources and use them in your workplace and on social media to raise awareness,
• Make the White Ribbon Promise never to use, excuse or remain silent about men’s violence against women and girls, and
• Show your commitment by wearing a White Ribbon every day of the year.

Together we can prevent men’s violence against women and girls.

Find out more about White Ribbon UK here.

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]