Parents and caregivers who physically harm children will face
tougher, lasting consequences for their actions following a new
child cruelty register.
Adults who subject children in their care to cruel, heartless
crimes, such as neglect and abandonment, will be more closely
monitored by police and face similar restrictions as registered
sex offenders – reducing the chances of reoffending and providing
better protection to children.
This could include having to inform police if they move house,
change their identities, travel abroad, or start living with
children again after their sentence.
The register will also cover all offences related to child female
genital mutilation.
The move follows calls for such a register from campaigners
including Paula Hudgell, the adoptive mother of Tony Hudgell, who
became a double amputee following severe neglect by his birth
parents.
The government has tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing
Bill to establish the register today.
, MP, Minister for
Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said:
It is unforgivable that someone who is supposed to take care of a
child would hurt them instead.
We've listened to the Hudgells, and to the many families who feel
the system hasn't done enough to protect some of the most
vulnerable people in society, and we are taking vital action.
Whether it be online, on the streets, in schools, or from their
own caregivers – children are being kept safer under this
government.
Crimes covered by the register will include those convicted of
causing or allowing the death or serious physical harm of a
child. This includes child cruelty, abandonment or neglect,
female genital mutilation and infanticide. These offences are
egregious betrayals of a child's trust and dependency.
At the same time, the government is bringing in a raft of
non-legislative measures to further protect children. These
include promoting the effective use of civil orders,
strengthening Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)
oversight, ensuring high‑risk cases are identified consistently,
and putting child sex offender disclosure by police on a
statutory footing.
Taken together, the new child cruelty register and supporting
measures will provide the best-ever police visibility for those
who have harmed children under their care, and will give
safeguarding partners the information they need to stop cruel,
neglectful and abusive adults from offending again.
These actions come in addition to the strong steps this
government has already taken to safeguard children. These include
introducing the landmark Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
with a unique child identifier, new multi-agency child protection
teams and better information sharing powers. We are also
strengthening child sex offender disclosure, establishing a new
Child Protection Agency, and bringing in mandatory reporting of
child sexual abuse.
Sentencing Minister, MP, said:
Child abusers do not deserve shielding; children do. The Child
Cruelty Register will ensure these offenders are visible to the
police, allowing authorities to see and act when risks arise.
I thank Paula Hudgell for her remarkable fight to ensure no
child should go through the life-altering abuse that
her son Tony did.
