Sir Malcolm Evans and Ivor Frank, two former panel members of the seven-year Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, have demanded the Government strengthen the mandatory duty to report child sexual abuse being introduced in the Crime and Policing Bill.
They have written jointly to the Home Secretary to argue that the duty does not fulfil the Inquiry’s recommendation, despite repeated assurances to MPs from the Home Office that it intends to implement IICSA’s recommendations ‘in full.’
In the letter, the former inquiry leaders argue that in the current drafting of the bill, “there is: a lack of an appropriate sanction for failure to report; an insufficient definition of who should be a mandated reporter; and a narrow trigger for the duty that does not include reasonable suspicion and recognised indicators of abuse.”
They finish by arguing that “the duty in the Crime and Policing Bill falls short of what is needed to ensure that the mandatory reporting duty is as effective in uncovering and preventing child sexual abuse as it ought to be.”
The calls come following repeated interventions by Labour MP Sam Carling, raising concerns about the effectiveness of the duty. Since April 2025, Carling has raised the issue multiple times in Parliament, and will discuss the matter at length in an adjournment debate this Monday 2 March.
The Crime and Policing Bill has now reached Report Stage in the House of Lords, where specific amendments on these issues from Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson (Crossbench) and Baroness Joan Walmsley (Liberal Democrat), some of which were originally proposed by Carling in the Commons, are set to be voted on. A final decision on these amendments is expected on Monday 2 March, and if agreed in the House of Lords, will return to the House of Commons for consideration.